Robot One Shots
by toothlessturtle21
Summary: This is my collection of one-shots involving the subject of Zane being a robot. If you want a certain subject touched upon, please feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the reviews! Newest: Jay walking through the Bounty with a bouquet of flowers piques Zane's interest, which brings up an awkward topic in the Ice Ninja's mind: Mother's Day.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is more of a side project story to help with my writer's block, but I hope you like it nonetheless. Enjoy!**

* * *

Zane stared at himself in the mirror. It was just... _weird._ To know that under all of that artificial skin and synthetic eyes and nails and hair, was metal. A blue power source ticking away to fuel his body. To keep fake blood running through his plastic veins. He felt his fingers drag over the light blue veins on his wrist. Or did he? Could he feel? It was just all code and sensors, after all, nothing _real_ like he thought he felt.

 _He_ wasn't real. Zane opened up his wrist panel for the third time in five minutes. He had managed to figure out how to activate his internal clock and timer, as well as his scanner. Knowing the time of day down to the millisecond all the time was making the day drag by. He could tell you it had been exactly five hours, thirty-seven minutes, and fifty-six seconds since the team had gotten home from their journey into Birchwood Forest.

A loud knock startled him from his thoughts.

"Zane? You've been in there for hours. Are you sure you're ok?" Jay asked from the other side of the bathroom door. "We're all right here if you need us."

"I'm fine, Jay. Thank you," Zane snapped his panel shut. Not like Jay could see it.

"Are you sure? Being in the bathroom for five hours isn't normal, even for you. What are you even doing in there?"

Zane didn't know what to respond. Anyone else on the team would've most likely made a snarky comeback, but his brain didn't work like that. _Coding._ Zane corrected himself. _Coding, not a brain._

"You not being able to answer that is worrying me. I'm coming in," Jay decided, and Zane didn't have time to protest before he heard a click and the doorknob twisted.

"Hey," Jay greeted softly, shutting the door behind him as he entered. The bathroom certainly wasn't fit for two.

"Hello."

"So, now that I can see your face and you can't lie, how're you doing?" Jay inquired, and Zane, knowing he couldn't "ok" his was out of this, just focused on the floor tiles beneath Jay's feet.

"C'mon, Zane. I know this is life changing and it's only been a few hours, and you must be so overwhelmed, but you can't just hole yourself up in our bathroom and stare at the mirror for the rest of eternity."

Not life. _Eternity_. Another thing Zane had been thinking about. Jay must've realized he struck a sore subject because Zane found himself being dragged into the hall, Jay babbling something about human contact being good for him, and before he knew it he was in the game room and the rest of the ninja were tackling him into a bear hug, and if he had lungs he would feel like they might burst.

When everything had quieted down and Kai was about to say something, Lloyd burst in.

"Wow, you're a robot? Can you like, shoot lasers and fly with a jetpack in you back, ooh, or can you-" The kid was interrupted by Cole practically hissing at him to get lost and saying something about leave us alone for a bit. Lloyd hastily left, with a metaphorical tail between his legs.

Zane just stared numbly at the spot where Lloyd was. Is that would everybody else would think when they found out? That he was some government-created monster with three different machine guns built into his arms?

"Hey, Frosty, don't worry about Lloyd. I shouldn't have told him," Kai apologized. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

The four ninja just stood in awkward silence.

Finally, Jay groaned. "I dragged him out of the bathroom for this? I know we're all kind of surprised, and, in Zane's case, pretty shaken, but we've known each other long enough where this shouldn't change anything! We shouldn't be standing here as the poor guy is having an existential crisis in the bathroom!"

"Yeah, sorry Zane. I guess we were all thinking about what _happened_ and not what's _happening_ ," Kai's mouth quirked into a small smile.

"That was pretty crappy of us, yeah. Well, we still have a while until Sensei gets back. And Nya should be home in a bit too. Should we just, I don't know, watch a movie or something? We need to just relax right now, honestly," Cole gestured to the TV, and Zane sighed.

"You all go ahead. I'm not really-"

"No." Jay grabbed Zane's wrist as he went to exit, catching him mid-turn. "We're not letting you run off like that. If you're going, we're going with you."

"Yeah. So, if you want to go sit outside in the snow for a few hours and contemplate the meaning of life, we'll try our best to do it too," Cole chuckled, and reached out to pat Zane on the back, but was surprised when the Ice Ninja hugged him tightly instead, which was not a normal Zane thing to do.

The two others joined as well, and they stayed like that for so long even Zane lost track of time.

* * *

"There's something kind of important we need to tell you," Kai started. The four ninja plus Nya had gathered in the dining room and sat their mentor down in a chair. Zane was feeling a lot better, and even had figured out that he could, with the right cords, download music and movies onto his hard drive and play them in his vision, which made watching his science fiction a lot easier.

"Is this about Zane being a, what did you call it?" Wu glanced at the Ice Ninja, who smiled softly.

"Nindroid. A combination of the words 'ninja' and 'android'," Zane explained, opening up his wrist panel to further prove his point.

"So, you're a robot?"

"Nindroid, please," Zane nodded.

"This is quite the discovery," Wu nodded, taking a sip of his tea. "How do you feel, Zane?"

"Well, I was quite shocked at first."

"Shocked is an understatement. He locked himself in the bathroom for five hours questioning his existence," Jay shrugged, casting a glance at Zane who cleared his throat in annoyance.

"Anyway, I got better. It's not as hard to deal with now. I wasn't given much time to dwell when I originally found out, as I had to save them all from being smacked around by Treehorns."

This made Jay shut up, and Cole laughed.

"He's still our Zane, no matter what he's made of," The Earth Ninja clapped him on the back.

"Glad to hear," Sensei emptied his cup and set it down. "Is that all?"

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Nya said skeptically, raising an eyebrow at her Sensei's attitude.

"It doesn't change anything, does it? Zane will still train, he is still the Master of Ice, and he is still a ninja. The only one who can decide if things change is Zane, and it doesn't appear like anything is different."

"Well, when you put it like that..." Nya shrugged, and glanced at Zane, who was smiling sheepishly at the ground.

Zane remained when everyone else cleared our, choosing instead to stay and talk with Sensei.

"Now that the others aren't here putting pressure on you, are you alright?" Wu knew Zane had a tendency to internalize, a trait that didn't help on a team of extroverts.

"I'm doing fine, thank you. It has taken some adjusting, but I'm glad to have such understanding teammates," Zane nodded. The conversation continued, and soon enough, Zane began to feel more and more comfortable in his own artificial skin.


	2. Chapter 2

**This one takes place right after the Battle with the Great Devourer, when Zane's face is still broken. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Alright, can you hand me a screwdriver?"

"Certainly."

Jay had never fixed his friend's face before. Not that he ever thought he would. Sure, Zane got scratched up every now and again during a battle or just from being unaware of his surroundings (he got lost in thought more often than they thought), but he handled those on his own. He just needed a few minutes to, in extreme cases, a few hours and he was good as new. He hadn't broken off half his face before.

"Thanks," Jay nodded as Zane handed him his tool. "Now, I was planning on powering you down for this, so-"

"Powering me down?" Zane eyed Jay with a little wariness.

Jay hadn't really thought about the fact that having his power turned off might scare Zane a little. It's like having your friend administer knock out gas to you, telling you that they're going to be fixing your major organs and that you'll be fine.

"Yeah. You alright with that?"

"If you're asking if I trust you, the answer is yes. However, I try to ignore the fact that I have a switch that could easily kill me installed. Why do you want to?"

"Well, I'm unfamiliar with working with such complex machinery, or anything that can feel pain, for that matter. I don't know how harsh I am when I'm building things and I don't want you to suffer for however long it's going to take to fix your face," Jay twisted the tool in his hands, watching as Zane contemplated his statement. The Nindroid was sitting on the end of Jay's worktable next to a pile of scrap metal, his exposed bright blue eye shining under the afternoon sun.

"I appreciate your concern, Jay. You can power me off if you wish," Zane nodded slowly, taking a deep breath.

"Alright, you ready?"

"Whenever you want," Zane cracked a small smile, opening his chest panel to reveal his inner workings. Jay's fingers hovered over a small switch on the lower left side of Zane's stomach, next to his hip.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Jay confirmed, and Zane chuckled.

"I am fine, Jay. Go ahead."

Jay steeled himself and flipped the switch, and winced as his friend went limp and fell backwards, his normal looking eye half-lidded and dull. His legs still swung over the side, his upper half was now sprawled out on top of Jay's work table.

He gently shut Zane's eyelid (it was creeping him out a little) and got to work, marveling at the intricate works and cuts that made up the Nindroid's insides. His "flesh", although it felt and looked like the real thing, was only in place to give him a human appearance and give the delicate innards an extra layer of protection.

If Zane had busted his arm, that would have been way different. A lot of joints, yes, but larger pieces that aren't so easy to misplace or loose. The tiny bolts and screws fixing Zane's eyes and lips and any other features together were so small that Jay feared he would drop one and it would be lost forever in the junk yard dirt. Luckily, it was mostly his synthetic skin that took the damage, which made repairs a lot less stressful.

Recreating something so human-like had been a great challenge for both involved. Matching Zane's pale skin to the exact shade was difficult in itself, much less finding the right materials to recreate the feel of human skin, although the Lightning Ninja preferred to think of it as a covering, since thinking about holding skin made him queasy.

As he reattached the covering, he thought about opening Zane's chest panel to get a good look at what made up his body as well. His pale blue power source that never stopped clicking away, the switches and buttons that controlled humor, memories, and even his personality, as well as the mechanism that kept the opening for the panel hidden, as to prevent accidental openings and water damage.

His wrist panel was a whole different story. With a few USB ports, an admittedly old screen, and a small keypad, it was a miniscule machine in itself. He could do anything from charge controllers to download movies and even make quick modifications to himself in the middle of a battle.

Jay had to stop himself there. He face palmed.

He, along with the other crew members on the Bounty (which was sadly destroyed along with Zane's face), had pledged to think no differently of the him after the reveal of his past, and here he was fantasizing about all the gadgets and ports and buttons that the Ice Ninja possessed. Especially with him being unconscious on his work table. With a sigh, he drew his fingers away from the latch. Maybe another time, when Zane was at least awake.

A few hours later, Jay had successfully reattached the missing half of Zane's face. Of course, it hadn't been anything too mechanical, but he was still proud. He flipped the switch, and stood back as Zane slowly sat up, blinking like a kitten opening its eyes for the first time.

"How'd it go?" He asked, almost slurring his words. Systems weren't quite fully functioning yet.

"Pretty good, Your face looks pretty darn good to me. I mean, in a totally technical way," Jay chuckled, cheeks tinged a tad red.

Zane looked up, noting the position of the sun. "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours. Not too bad. Does it feel weird?"

Zane quirked his face a little, testing the elasticity of the new material.

"Just like it used to. I'm glad it worked," Zane smiled, hopping down from the table. "Thank you, Jay."

"No problem. Um, this may be a weird question, but do you think I could take a look at your inner workings sometime?" Jay asked, regretting it as soon as he said it. Who just asks someone to see their guts?

"Sure. I don't blame you for being curious," Zane nodded, and began walking towards the opening of the junk yard. "Shall we go?"

Jay, startled at the Nindroid's casual answer, caught up quickly. "Yeah. Let's."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! This one was a request by The Night Ninja, though I didn't put in the Glaciershipping (I'm trying to keep this collection romance-free), but there's still some bromance, so I hope that will suffice. Enjoy!**

* * *

Muffled knocking sounded from the door. Great.

"Yeah, yeah, come in," Cole said harshly, a bit more biting than he had intended. But at the moment, he couldn't find it in him to care all that much.

The team had only gotten back from the temple an hour ago. They had seemed to learn their lesson with Zane, as they hadn't stopped coming in to ask him if he's alright, or if he needs anything, or just to make sure he's still there. As much as he loved them, it was getting annoying.

A weight settled next to him on the bed. Not that he could feel it. The visitor didn't say anything. Cole was still lying, facing the wall, in the same position he had settled in when he returned back to his room.

A few more moments of silence. sighing, Cole adjusted his position, only to see Zane sitting solemnly beside him, hands folded in his lap.

"Hey Zane," Cole flopped onto his back. At least the Nindroid wouldn't talk until he felt like banging his head against a wall.

"Hello, Cole. I know the others have checked on you multiple times already, but I felt the need to reassure myself," He explained.

"Yeah, I already got the same spiel from the others. Thanks for worrying, but I don't need any help. I'm fine," Cole blew a tuft of hair out of his eyes, and tried his best to look calm and relaxed. He could tell it didn't quite work, because Zane made no movement towards the door.

He also made no conversation. He appeared to be contemplating something, because his eyes took on that far away look that the Nindroid had become infamous for. it was a few minutes until any words were said at all.

"I know how it feels," Zane said so quietly it was barely audible.

"How what feels?" Cole asked nervously, not quite knowing where this conversation was going.

"Feeling out of place. Alien, even. The uncertainty of not knowing how you belong. Do you think I immediately accepted the fact that I was mechanical and was comfortable with the knowledge?" Zane asked gently, his voice even smoother and methodical than normal.

"Well, no, I guess," Cole tensed a little. Zane was more perceptive than he let on. "But that's different. You could at least still pass off as a-"

"Cole, you are just as much of a ghost as I am a robot. Physically, yes, we are not human. But mentally, we are as human as it gets," Zane smiled softly, but it quickly faded once Cole didn't return the gesture. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Not really," Cole sighed. "How did you cope?"

"With what exactly?"

"The whole immortality thing. Like, knowing everyone is gonna age and die without you. I'm dead. You can't kill something again. That's not how it works. So, I'm just going to be stuck here until I get hit with a heavy enough dose of water, right?"

"Well-"

"And on top of all of that, I can't even drink! I can't swim, I can't shower, I can't have water balloon wars, I can't even enjoy the rain! I'm so fragile that Jay could turn me into smoke by tripping and spilling a bit of water! Also, I can't even control my physical form! Like, one minute I'm solid and the next I'm phasing through the bed if I'm not paying attention! I-"

"Cole."

The Earth Ninja stopped.

"I know it's hard. But you're not alone. You won't have to spend eternity alone. Perhaps we'll find someway to get you back to being human, and you can live normally. But for now, you have me. And Pixal, if you'd rather. I cannot help you overcome your weakness to water, but I can sympathize with your thought process. I too worried about the future far too often," Zane paused, taking a breath. "I know it hurts, but the best you can do right now is enjoy the present."

"I guess..." Cole mumbled, and found that he was able to feel the bed once again. Seeing the realization flash on Cole's face, Zane rested a hand on Cole's shoulder, and the Earth Ninja sighed and released the tension he had holed up from his rant, resting his opposite hand on top of the Nindroid's.

"Feeling better?" Zane asked, and Cole, for the first time in hours, smiled.

"Yes, yes I am."

* * *

Zane was happy for Cole. Truly, he was. As was the rest of the crew. Cole was human again. How could they not be happy? But the smile on his face felt a little more forced than it should have been.

 _Selfish._ Zane criticized himself. _Why can't you just be happy for him?_

Later that night, Zane sat on his bed, curled up with a massive textbook on marine life he had obtained a few days ago. He was just getting to the part on symbiotic relationships between whales and barnacles when there was a knock on his door.

"Yes?" He inquired, and the door creaked open.

"Hey," Cole greeted.

"Why are you not celebrating with the others? This is quite the event for you," Zane asked, not shutting his book. Cole was going to leave in a few moments, and then he could get back to-

"I should ask you the same question," Cole huffed, and crossed his arms. "Why are you holed up in your room reading a book on the ocean?"

"Parties are not really my type of celebration."

"You didn't think that when we got the fangblades," Cole said, raising an eyebrow.

Zane didn't answer, instead making it very clear that he wanted to start reading again by hiding his face in the book.

"Zane," Cole said accusingly, sitting down on the end of his bed. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Cole. Enjoy your night."

"Is this about that conversation we had back when I first turned into a ghost?"

Zane sighed, and lowered his book.

"And if it was?"

"Then I'd want to tell you that I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what? You have nothing to apologize for."

"I'm sorry that you don't have anyone to spend eternity with. Unless you count Pixal, but she's only really in your head," Cole grabbed a bookmark and marked Zane's place, shutting the textbook, eliminating any distractions.

"You do not have to apologize for that, Cole. I know my fate," Zane nodded slightly, staring down at his sheets.

"Just because you've accepted it doesn't mean you have to be ok with it," Cole tilted Zane's chin up so the Nindroid was looking at him, and smiled. "C'mon, just like you said to me, enjoy the present."

"I suppose you're correct," Zane shrugged, setting the book down on his bed.

"There you go," Cole said, grabbing his friend's hand and pulling him out to where the rest of the crew was waiting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Heyooo! This one takes place right after Ninjaball Run, but in my universe the episode timing is weirdly spaced so sorry if this one seems a little late to be probable in canon, but it makes sense in my head so here we go. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey guys? As a heads up, we probably shouldn't let Zane watch the news over the next few days," Cole frowned, as soon as the Ice Ninja left to meditate early one Thursday morning.

"And why not?" Jay asked skeptically, plopping down in front of the TV. It was nice having the Bounty back, and ridding themselves of the old one room apartment. Saving Darreth's Dojo was a plus, sure, but nothing compared to having separate rooms again.

"They reviewed the footage of our battle with the Great Devourer, and, well, they kind of noticed half of Zane's face was missing. That sparked some interesting news stories," Cole flicked on the TV, and sure enough, there was a reporter sitting a table showing a clip of the ninja attempting to subdue the snake, with the camera focused on Zane's mechanical countenance.

"Can't they just leave us alone? The last time there was a media blowout about us it was when Garmadon created those doubles of us. That was a mess," Kai grumbled, watching the woman on the screen with contempt.

"Yeah. And look at this headline. 'Sci-Fi Movies Come to Life: Ice Ninja Revealed to be Robot'. What kind of genius came up with that?" Jay rolled his eyes, carefully leaving out some choice words in case Sensei decided to stroll in uninvited.

"As much as we're trying to save the poor guy's self esteem, Zane's far from stupid. Surely he knows people saw him without half his face?" Cole leaned back on the couch, flicking through the channels, only to find similar results.

The team watched a few stories, and Kai became so angry that Jay had to force him to leave to cool down before he punched the TV and left it smoking.

"Why do bad things always happen to good people?" Jay sighed, snatching the remote up and shutting off the device. Luckily, he had good sense of timing as Zane walked in 30 seconds later, looking about as relaxed as a mouse in a cat shelter.

"Hey, you ok?" Cole caught Zane by the arm as the Nindroid headed for the kitchen, and he shook his head.

"I couldn't even properly meditate today. Everywhere I went there seemed to be a new person with a camera yelling questions at me. I don't even know what they were saying. All I could catch was something about rumors and video footage," Zane rubbed his eyes, clearly exhausted, and continued on his way.

Cole paled. "Cameras?" He squeaked, and Zane nodded, stepping into the kitchen.

"It was quite strange. I am going to meditate on the Bounty's roof later, if you would care to join me," He grabbed himself a cup of coffee, leaning up against the counter.

"Yeah," Cole replied, distant. So much for sheltering him. Cole sauntered towards Kai's room, trying to look as nonchalant as possible until he was out of Zane's view, and then burst in on the Fire Ninja, who gave Cole an unamused stare.

"Ever heard of knocking, Dirt Clod?" Kai rolled his eyes, annoyed. He was shirtless, as he was in the middle of getting dressed. "What do you want?"

"Zane was being followed around with reporters this morning, he says they have no idea what they were saying, so that's good, but-"

"Woah, slow down there, dude," Kai said, slipping a tee shirt over his head. "If he doesn't know what's going on, that's great, but there's nothing we can do right now except for wait for the whole thing to blow over, like it always does."

"Yeah, but-" Cole stammered.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but _relax_. Zane'll probably hear it eventually. I know I was pissed, and I still am, but we can't hole Zane up in the Bounty and cover his ears for the next few hours or days or weeks or however long it'll take."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Cole sighed, deflating a little. "Ninjago will calm down eventually, right?"

* * *

Zane had been in the game room for almost three days straight. He just kept flicking between news stations, and when they weren't covering stories because it was too late, he slept. The crew brought him food, but he didn't even touch it, shaking his head. The ninja, when they had to go out and shop for things like normal teenagers, had been bombarded with reporters asking them about their friend's story. It was getting ridiculous.

"This is horrible!" Kai exclaimed, his face stuffed in a pillow.

"I agree. You would've thought it would be over by now," Jay frowned, setting a grocery bag down on the floor.

"I mean, our job is to protect people and stop crime. Not answer questions about each other's personal lives!" The Fire Ninja grumbled, his griping muffled by the fabric.

"Yeah. This is stupid. It's been days now," Jay sighed, grabbed Zane's daily offering of some fruit, and headed down to the Game Room.

Zane barely flicked his eyes up in Jay's direction as he entered, holding the apple in one hand.

"Hey," Jay said softly, settling next to the Nindroid, who didn't respond. Jay eyed the screen, and felt his teeth clench when the headlines scrolled past. After a few minutes of watching passive-aggressive insults and demeaning remarks being thrown around, Jay had enough. He reached over Zane, grabbed the remote, and shut the TV off before Zane knew what was happening.

The Ice Ninja sat in stunned silence for a second before leaping after it, practically shoving Jay against a wall in his attempt to reclaim the device.

"Stop!" Jay snapped harshly, and Zane recoiled, standing a few feet away. Jay sighed.

"Look, sorry I snapped at you, but this is stupid. You can't hold a pity party for yourself over the next few weeks or whatever. You're on this team, and you're gonna start acting like it. I know they're treating you like crap, and I know you're probably saying the same stuff to yourself right now, but we miss you. Just eat something at least, alright?" Jay shoved the fruit into Zane's hands and stalked out, taking the remote with him.

A few hours later, Lloyd was surprised to see Zane walk into the kitchen with a hollow expression on his face.

"Hey, you ok?" Lloyd asked as the Ice Nina filled a glass with water. He shrugged, and gulped the liquid down. "Well, at least you're up."

Next, Zane meandered into Jay's room, where the inventor was hunched over a sketch. He glanced up, and grabbed the remote when he saw who it was.

"Sorry," Zane croaked out before Jay had a chance to even greet him, and sat down on the bed.

"Sorry for what? You have nothing to be sorry-" Jay paused. "Is that the only thing you've said in the past few days?"

Zane nodded. Jay shook his head and sat down next to the Ice Ninja.

"Don't listen to them. They don't know what they're talking about. Who cares if you're metal? You're Zane. You're better than all of them combined," Jay looked up at the Nindroid, only to find tears gathering in his eyes.

"Uh, Zane? You ok?" Jay was unhappily reminded of a few months ago when Zane had locked himself in the bathroom for hours, and when he didn't receive a response, he stood up, pulled the Ice Ninja up with him, and wrapped his arms around the Nindroid. Zane stiffened, but then relaxed and rested his head on Jay's shoulder.

"There you go," Jay smiled, and Zane nodded shakily into his shirt. It had been a long week.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! This one was suggested by ReaderPersona, who wanted one about Zane's connection with his Falcon. If you don't agree with what I wrote here, then that's fine, but this is how I think the show should've handled the Falcon. Enjoy!**

* * *

In the eyes of his friends, Zane's connection with his Falcon was... strange. Zane didn't treat it like a bird. The Ice Ninja could often be found holding a friendly conversation and nodding along to its chirps. Even in training, the Falcon liked to assist Zane by bringing him some bottled water from the kitchen if he felt the Nindroid's systems were going to overheat.

Needless to say, Jay was fascinated.

"Can you understand it?" He asked one day as the Falcon landed on Zane's shoulder, clicking a greeting.

"The Falcon is not an _it_ , Jay, but a _he,"_ Zane explained, smoothing the bird's ruffled feathers.

"But can you understand him?"

"To some extent, yes. He does not chirp in the way of other birds, but I suppose it matches well enough. Something in his coding and mine are connected, so I can understand most of his chatter, but there are some patterns he picked up from other species which I do not quite understand," Zane smiled and held out a hand to his friend, and the Falcon instead perched on Zane's fingers.

"That's amazing! Have you ever considered looking into what it is?" Jay asked slyly, a grin appearing as he stroked the Falcon's feathers, but the bird hissed and flew up to Zane's head.

The Nindroid sighed, giving in and crossing his arms. "I will not take apart the Falcon in the same way you would not take apart me. Some things deserve to be left alone."

"Yeah, I guess that's true, but if you can understand bird chirps, could you understand barks and meows and whatever if they were built?"

"I suppose so, yes, but the Falcon and I were the only two sentient machines created by my father. There is no way of knowing for sure," Zane shrugged, and the Falcon cawed and Zane rolled his eyes, a rare gesture for the Nindroid.

"The Falcon would also like to remind me that my father built a few smaller bots with minds of their own. But they were insignificant and ran out of power after a few years of living," Zane added, and the Falcon climbed down and settled back down onto Zane's shoulder.

"Mind if I ask him some questions?" Jay, being the shortest of the crew, wasn't quite at eye level with the bird and held out his hand for the Falcon.

"Go ahead," Zane smiled, and nodded to the bird, who chirped in an annoyed manner and stayed put.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Jay asked as Zane gave the Falcon a look of dismay.

"You can trust Jay. He's not going to hurt you. I know you're just being difficult," Zane held up his hand for the Falcon to climb on, who promptly leaned over and bit Zane on the finger.

The Ice Ninja withdrew quickly, muttering something under his breath before shooing the Falcon off, watching it fly out the window.

"You alright?" Jay checked, and Zane nodded.

"I'm fine, thank you. He was still angry at you for the earlier comment about taking him apart and decided to show his frustrations by injuring me. Nothing new, just annoying," Zane frowned and glanced towards the window. "He'll be back once he's done sulking."

"I can't believe you can understand him that well," Jay said in awe as Zane inspected his finger.

"It's a strange phenomenon, yes, but I'm glad for it, even if we don't get along sometimes. The Falcon has always been my family, after all. No matter the difference in species," Zane, finding no blood on his finger, went off to start cooking dinner. Jay, being bored and wanting to feel useful, decided to help.

* * *

Dinner was almost ready when Zane heard a familiar fluttering from outside the kitchen window. He automatically held out his arm, waiting for the Falcon to land on it. Instead, the bird dove in and nested on Jay's shoulder, and Jay was understandably nervous.

"Zane, if this bird bites me I'm blaming you," Jay hissed as the Falcon inspected the Lightning Ninja. He clucked indignantly, and Zane translated.

"He says he won't hurt you as long as you don't hurt him," Zane continued stirring the soup, and Jay nodded.

"Does this mean I can ask you questions now?"

The Falcon bobbed his head, and Jay took it as a nod.

"Do you have a name?"

He chirped. "He says that since I have called him the Falcon all his life, he considers that his name."

"Right. That's cool. I was named a pun. How ironic that the kid with the name Jay Walker grew up to be a crime fighting ninja, right?" Jay laughed nervously as the bird stared him down. He couldn't tell if he was inviting Jay to ask more or about to peck out his eye.

Zane glanced back at the two, and smiled. "He's waiting, Jay."

"Wait, if you can talk to Zane, why do you just lead us places and then not tell us why?" Jay realized, and the Falcon didn't respond. Zane sighed.

"He likes for me to figure things out on my own. He thinks of it as a puzzle of sorts," The Ice Ninja said, his tone indicating he didn't agree with the bird's thought process but he said nothing more on the matter.

"Huh," Jay glanced over at the Falcon, who chirped something that made Zane roll his eyes, something rare for the Nindroid.

"No, I'm not going to shred up one of my shirts for you. Go find some leaves or something of the sort," Zane held out his arm for the Falcon and he climbed on, giving Zane a quick nuzzle before flying out the window again.

"May I ask?" Jay grabbed some bowls from the cabinet, and Zane picked up the soup ladle.

"He likes to build a nest in my room to sleep in, and he has been asking for a while now to use one of my shirts as nesting material. He refuses to accept an old towel I've previously offered him," Zane poured some broth into the bowls, and they carried them out to rest of the team, who eagerly accepted the meal.

The Falcon returned a few hours later, and Jay found him later that night resting on Zane's head, who had fallen asleep reading in the game room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Here's another kind of angsty one, which I know a lot of you love. Thanks for all the support (holy crap Enisa, I don't deserve you), and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

It was a few weeks after the Final Battle when Cole first heard it. Soft music playing from outside where Zane was meditating, something that the Ice Ninja had never really shown much interest in. Curious, Cole walked quietly out onto the deck, and he finally recognized the song. A quiet jazz piece by an old artist was just barely loud enough for Cole to hear it, but what really surprised him was that Zane was singing along.

Hearing something so smooth come from his mouth was quite jarring, considering Zane's speech pattern, but he matched the singer's melodies quite well. Not only that, but his voice was actually good. Having grown up around an a cappella group and around musical prodigies, Cole knew what a good voice sounded like, and Zane had one. Just then, the music stopped, and the Earth Ninja held his breath.

"I know you're there, Cole," Zane sighed, and it was then that Cole noticed the Falcon perched on the end of the Bounty. Stupid bird. Not knowing how to respond to that, Cole just climbed the steps up to where Zane was and saw the Ice Ninja smooth out his wrist panel and push his sleeve over it. From his seat on the roof, Zane gazed dejectedly at Cole, and he realized that maybe the Nindroid would've preferred if he had just left and never mentioned it.

"You have a good voice," Cole said awkwardly, and Zane huffed.

"No need to be nice, Cole. I can take honesty," Zane stood up, and the Falcon fluttered onto his shoulder.

"No, I'm not kidding. It was hard to hear from where I was, but you sounded pretty good from below. You have good taste in music too," Cole offered, and Zane just shook his head.

"Cole, stop, I don't need to hear you try to make me feel better. I didn't think anyone was around to-"

"Zane, please, just listen to-"

"Stop dodging the subject. The last thing I need is to be teased for-"

"You think we're going to make fun of you for this?"

"Well, you made fun of me for everything else."

"That was back before we knew-"

"Knew what? That I wasn't one of you?"

Both ninja fell silent. The Falcon, sensing the energy in the air, flew off to leave them alone. Finally, Cole took a deep breath.

"Zane, that's not what I was trying to say."

"It certainly sounded like it was."

"Well, I'm sorry then. But we wouldn't make fun of you for something as personal as singing. We were crappy to you back when we first met, and I get that. But things are different now," Cole couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as the Ice Ninja stared at the floor.

"I agree that things are different, yes, but that doesn't answer my question," Zane said coldly, so much so that Cole flinched a bit listening to his friend.

"Zane, you are one of us. And if you think differently, you're the wrong one," Cole paused, taking a step forward. "Are we really going to fight over you singing?"

"This is about more than just my voice, Cole. You know that."

"Maybe I don't then. Because right now, it looks like you're accusing me of things over you singing along to some music. All I said was that you sound good! Hell, I heard you sing back at my dad's and you weren't this good. You sounded like the rest of us!"

"I can toggle my singing on and off. I'm not sure whether it's a blessing or a curse."

"That's not the point. Why are you getting so worked up over this?" Cole asked, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

The Ice Wielder didn't answer, shaking his head.

"Zane, stop," Cole begged, voice now soft. "Just tell me why this is such a big deal to you."

Zane wrapped his arms around himself, sighing. "I've just... shared so much of myself lately. Between Jay just being curious and all of you just asking me to charge things for you and... I don't know, really, I just feel so _open_ and I promised myself that I would keep something to myself, and that happened to be my voice. And now I don't even have that."

Any guilt Cole felt grew with each word the Ice Ninja spoke. After he was done, Zane just looked solemnly at Cole, any anger in his eyes dissolved.

"I... didn't know any of that bothered you."

"It's not that it bothers me, it's just different," Zane shrugged, but that didn't make Cole feel any better.

"Why didn't you say anything? We would've stopped if it made you uncomfortable."

"I told you, it doesn't bother me. I just wanted something to myself," Zane placed a comforting hand on Cole's shoulder, not quite eye level with the Earth Ninja.

"And now I've ruined that," Cole mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"This isn't your fault. I should have-"

"No, this _is_ my fault. I should've just left when I first heard you. Then the Falcon saw me, and-"

"You think the Falcon alerted me to your presence?" Zane raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah."

"You're forgetting I have a sixth sense. I knew it was you without the Falcon's assistance," Zane smiled, lowering his hand to let it fall back at his side. Cole couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah, I did forget that. Should we go back inside? It's freezing up here," With the loss of the contact of Zane's hand, Cole now realized how chilly it really was.

"My apologies, I didn't realize you were cold."

"Eh, I guess that's the perk of being the Master of Ice, huh? The whole hard to freeze thing?"

"Yes, but I don't know whether to credit that to the ice or to being mechanical."

"Guess we'll never know," Cole pat Zane on the back. "Sorry I was so insensitive."

"Sorry I was a bit of a jerk," Zane smiled sheepishly, and the two walked back inside together, Zane promising to make Cole some hot chocolate if he didn't tell anyone about that night. Cole happily agreed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! This was a request by Enisa, and they said to touch upon Zane being a seer, so here it is. As a side note, this is currently the longest thing I've ever written, so that's cool. Enjoy!**

* * *

Zane had chalked up his sixth sense to being a robot once he had discovered his past. It was some algorithm in his systems that could predict events in the immediate future due to patterns in the data he subconsciously picked up, and he just interpreted that data through what the others would call a "gut feeling." Yeah, that was it.

When asked about it, that's what he would say. He wasn't a seer like he previously thought. He was just a robot with a few prediction abilities.

Just a robot.

Right.

It wasn't quite as special as he first thought, having those weird feelings. It was just something programmed into him back when he was first built, to maybe give him an edge should he ever run into any trouble. So when Kai asked him what it was like as a seer, he didn't really have an answer.

"I am not a seer, Kai."

"Yeah, you are!. You have these awesome visions that-"

"They're not visions. Just predictions for the immediate future."

"That still makes you a seer."

"But it doesn't. I'm just analyzing my surroundings and-"

"Don't give me any of that bullshit."

Zane didn't respond, instead staring pointedly at the Ninja of Fire. Kai sighed, shaking his head.

"Ok, fine. I guess I'll see you later then," Kai turned and walked back inside the Bounty, his steps aggravated and heavy.

Zane, without a second thought, grabbed his shurikens and leapt off the side of the Bounty, spotting a nice slope to summon his motorcycle on. Despite being the only one of the original four ninja to not have a driver's license due to be an orphan in a rural village for several years, Zane drove his vehicle fairly well, even maneuvering it better than Kai occasionally. He drove for a while, figuring out his location as he went.

The Falcon swooped low overhead, and Zane waved to his friend from his motorcycle, the ninja mask he was wearing stopping the bird from reading his lips. He felt the temperature take a dive, and the area around him became so cluttered with trees that he had to dismount and turn his vehicle back into his weapon.

The Ice Ninja strolled through the woods, the constant sprinkle of snowflakes dusting his uniform. If not for the brown leather ties and black gloves, he would blend in completely with the snow.

It wasn't often that Zane truly got to be one with his element. The crew would have to remind Jay that flying in a thunderstorm is bad every time one threatened their flight, but the Lightning Ninja couldn't get enough of the sparks that filled the air that high up. Cole loved when the ship anchored near any mountains of any kind, even impossibly high and difficult ones. Surprisingly, the ninja also tend to hang around deserts and volcanoes, which means Kai was usually quite content.

Birchwood Forest was a rare treat for the Ninja of Ice. Sometimes, if he wanted to relax for a few hours, he would just lie in the snow and make small ice patterns on nearby tree bark, rocks, or any other surfaces not covered with powder. If Zane leaves for Birchwood Forest, the team doesn't bother him, knowing that the Nindroid can only take so much interaction every once in a while.

Zane took a deep breath and ran his hand over the patterned metal door, tracing his fingers along the pattern etched into the entryway. The same symbol was on the inside of his chest panel, as well as the Falcon's. As if the bird could read his thoughts, the Falcon landed on a branch above Zane, chirping a greeting. Zane smiled at his friend, and opened the door, the familiar scent of his home calming him the slightest.

He had organized the space since first discovering it, stacking the blueprints and papers neatly, as well as keeping the bedrooms and kitchen clean. He kept nonperishables in the cabinets, in case he ever decided to stay the night, and had even hooked up his mechanics to various electronics around the place, to make managing it that much easier.

The first thing he did when he entered was beeline for the drawer where all of the blueprints were kept. Stripping himself of his gloves and mask, he opened the drawer and pulled out his blueprint, along with all of the handwritten planning and code his father had created. The documents containing his functions were the only thing he wouldn't let Jay see, since some of them went _really_ in depth about his inner workings.

His eyes scanned neat cursive, trying to pick out anything about his ability to foresee the immediate future. He sat for hours, tirelessly working on the pages. After he had read each one several times over, he sighed and set the papers back in their place. Zane shuffled over to the kitchen, as it was now late into the evening, and prepared himself some canned chili, cringing at the quality of his meal.

He almost felt bad about not returning to the Bounty for dinner, as it was Cole's night to cook and he enjoyed Zane's feedback, but brushed off the feeling and resigned himself to mediocre chili in a silent house. He washed up when he was done, and laid down on the bed. He always forgot how quiet his old house could get. Just as he felt himself slipping into sleep, a loud knocking at the door startled him.

Hm. A visitor. Or, if he knew his friends, multiple. He darted up the metal stairs, and peered through the peephole. Jay stood, shivering, his blue coat not doing much for him in the biting cold.

Zane quickly opened the door and ushered Jay inside, making sure there were no other ninja freezing outside his door.

"What brings you here, Jay?" Zane asked as he lead Jay down the stairs, the Lightning Ninja's shivers beginning to die down.

"J- Just making sure you're okay, I guess. Kai said you ran off after he asked you about your sixth sense, and well, you tend to get self destructive when you're upset," Jay hung his coat up on the rack, almost glad he couldn't see Zane's reaction to the phrase. Zane seemed to ignore the accusation entirely.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, but not a lot. Cole burnt the steak tonight. He's getting better, but I could only eat half my piece," Jay laughed, and Zane couldn't help but smile.

"Soup?"

"Sounds great."

Both ninja stayed in comfortable silence, the steady bubbling of the soup being the only sound. Jay said a quiet thank you as Zane handed him his food.

After he took a sip, he chuckled.

"You manage to make even canned chicken soup taste good," He took a another gulp, this one huge, and Zane flushed a little at the praise.

"I try," Zane smiled shyly, and sat down across to Jay at the small table, hands folded in his lap. More silence. Unusual for the talkative Lightning Ninja.

"So," Jay wiped his mouth, having finished the last of his meal. "what were you doing here for so long?"

"Looking though old documents."

"Trying to find things on you sixth sense?" Jay asked, and Zane looked down at the floor, proving Jay right.

"I can't be a seer, Jay. I'm a robot, I-"

"Nindroid."

"Hm?"

"You're a Nindroid, Zane. You're not a robot," Jay corrected.

"The point is something mechanical can't have supernatural abilities. I just haven't been able to find anything detailing the programming that allows me to tell the immediate future," Zane rested his head on his hands, and Jay slammed his palms down on the table.

"But you're not a something, you're a someone! This is what I mean, Zane. When you get upset or miffed by something, all you do is contradict yourself! You could go from being totally comfortable and happy to self deprecating and cruel in a day. And right now, you're not exactly being the nicest to yourself," Jay finished quietly, and Zane sighed.

"I know."

"Well, you're not just a robot, and you're not just an AI mindlessly wandering around and being a slave to your programming. You're a person, and you need to start acting like one," Jay crossed his arms, and Zane nodded, his head barely moving.

"Alright," Zane choked out, and stood. Jay followed, bringing his bowl over to the sink and washing it as Zane stared numbly at his blueprints.

"Look, Zane, I probably should've worded that differently. That was harsher than I intended it to be. But you needed to hear it."

Zane looked up from his papers and met eyes with Jay, who nodded. Zane carefully put the papers down and walked over to Jay, standing next to him at the sink.

"Thanks," Zane leaned his head against the fridge next to him, clearly exhausted.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed," Jay urged, and the two got ready, settling into bed shortly after.

 _I am a seer after all._ Was Zane's last cohesive thought before he slipped into a deep sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! I'm glad you all like reading these, because I'm enjoying writing them. I'm working on a new collection of cool one-shots, so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Jay asked, scrolling through the website Zane had pulled up. Kai had suggested they watch a movie that had come out a few weeks ago, and since the ninja had no accounts to watch it with nor a theater to go to, Zane had offered to download it "legally" offline.

"I should be fine. A nindroid would be tough to hack," Zane shrugged, opening up his arm panel and flipping open the cover to a USB port.

"This is a pretty untrustworthy website. Maybe we should just wait..." Jay frowned. Clickbait ads lined the sides, promising sexy singles in his area and quick weight loss tips.

"Jay, I know you are worried, but the chances of my anti-virus program letting anything by is extremely small," Zane reassured him, twirling a cable between his fingers, the end plugged into his arm.

"Alright, you know you best, I guess. Have at it," Jay put his hands up in surrender, and stepped back as Zane plugged the other end into the computer. Almost immediately, windows started popping up and Zane flew by all of them, leaning back in his chair and waiting until he had pulled it from the web. Once the windows disappeared, Zane unplugged himself, and set the cord next to the computer.

"I guess we'll find out if it worked later tonight," Zane nodded, and shut his panel, smoothing it down and covering it with his sleeve.

The movie went great. The super long cord the ninja had worked quite well, and the movie's quality was decent enough for hacking it off a third-party website. As long as the ninja didn't ask questions on how Zane obtained the movies, he didn't provide the answers.

It was around midnight, when Jay was about to shut off his reading light and hit the hay, when Zane knocked rather loudly on his door, startling him so much he nearly dropped his book.

"Yeah, co-"

Zane quickly entered, frantically grabbing for a pen and paper.

"Hey, slow down, what's going on?" Jay asked, going to look over Zane's shoulder as he scribbled something down. When Zane finally displayed it to him, Jay felt smug and sorry at the same time.

 _Virus. Can't speak. Head hurts._

"A virus, huh?" Jay confirmed, and Zane nodded his head quickly, flushed a little at admitting his mistake, but flinched as the movement only increased his pounding headache. "One to ten, how bad is it hurting you?"

Zane winced, and held up seven fingers. Jay pursed his lips, brain working best it could for it being midnight.

"Tell you what, I can probably whip up a temporary solution to get rid of the pain, but I don't know if I'll be able to restore your voice just yet. If nothing's broken, then it's all software, and I tend to be more a hardware type guy," Jay walked over to his computer and started up a program, and Zane just resided on his bed, clutching his head in both hands as if trying to squeeze the pain away.

Jay looked back, and felt a pang of pity as the Ice Ninja tensed, his nails making indents in his skin from pressing too hard. He typed fast, and about a half hour later, he had a basic program to stop the pain. He put it on a flash drive, and Zane turned his grip to Jay's arm as the inventor slipped it into the port on Zane's wrist, the Nindroid relaxing as the pain ebbed away. He nodded gratefully, and proceeded to pass out on Jay's bed from exhaustion.

The Lightning Ninja sighed and shook his head, already planning his lecture to Zane once he woke up the next morning as he tucked the Ice Ninja in and laid down next to him, falling asleep rather quickly, tired from the ordeal that had just taken place.

* * *

Zane's eyes fluttered opened the next morning to find Jay still sleeping next to him. He recalled last night's events and tried to speak, but was meet with silence. At least the pain in his head was gone. He was sure Jay wasn't going to let him hear the end of this for months, but shook those thoughts off and went to the kitchen to start the day off with a tea.

He poured himself a cup, and sat down, enjoying the quiet while he still could. He heard shuffling a bit later, and wasn't surprised to see Jay take a seat across from him. Zane waved, acknowledging his presence, and Jay sighed.

"Voice still not working?"

Zane nodded sadly, and Jay shook his head.

"I thought you were the careful one. And yet, here you are, dumb for an undetermined period of time because you decided to download media off of a shady website. Good job," Jay said bitterly, and Zane huffed. "Don't give me that look. I warned you. You brought this on yourself. You're lucky I was able to get that code so you wouldn't have pulled out your own hair overnight. Does that even grow back, or is it just fibers planted in your head?" He hissed, irritable from lack of sleep and the look on Zane's face, which would have murdered him in a heartbeat if looks could kill.

Zane, shocked out of whatever anger he had previously been in, shrugged his shoulders and slumped back into his chair.

Jay was about to retort when Lloyd walked in, confused.

"Are you guys alright? I was looking for a relaxing morning but you two fighting is anything but relaxing," He chuckled, not realizing the severity of the situation as he sat down next to Jay.

"I'm fine. Zane's not," Jay replied curtly, and Zane shot him a glare.

"Woah, calm down. Is this just you being mean, or is Zane actually not ok?"

"Zane was stupid and decided to download content off a third-party website, which means _I_ have to clean up this mess and fix it while he mopes around asking me if I'm done with the code yet," Jay shot a pointed stare at the Ice Ninja, growing angrier by the second, and Zane, knowing he had no way of defending himself right now, stood up, and walked out. He faintly heard Lloyd chastising Jay as he strolled out to the deck, climbing up onto the roof and trying to meditate the best he could.

Soon enough, he slipped into a peaceful zone and felt his breathing even out as he entered a calm mindset. A short time later, he didn't realize his name was being called until he was shocked out of his zone by Lloyd shaking his shoulders.

"Zane!"

Zane startled, blinking rapidly to get rid of any daze in his eyes, and Lloyd reached out a hand to help him up.

"C'mon, I've got Jay's side of the story, and I think this is something for you two to sort out. Alone," Lloyd led him to Jay's room, and left, leaving Zane to enter of his own free will.

Zane didn't even bother to knock, walking in and shutting the door behind him. Jay looked up from his computer and sighed.

"Before you give me your infamous 'mother hen' look, we both screwed up, ok?" He stood, setting his computer down at his table. "You did some stupid stuff, I said some insensitive things. Can we agree to look past this and fix this together?" He shrugged, a little sheepish, and Zane nodded. Jay smiled.

"C'mon then, this code isn't going to write itself."


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! This was a request by Enisa, who wanted the whole erasing-memories thing touched upon. Here we go!**

* * *

It had only been a few weeks since the Final Battle, and the team was enjoying some relaxing downtime as Ninjago starting taking steps towards building a safer capital. Jay was focusing more on helping design the school they were planning on building, Kai and Nya were enjoying time together as siblings, Lloyd was accepting awards and getting to know his dad, Cole was cooking, and Zane finally got to spend time with his father after many years of being separated.

They were sitting on a cliff, overlooking rolling fields and plains, watching the sun as it slowly sank below the horizon. They were in comfortable silence for a long time, simply enjoying each other's company. But, as Zane tended to do when left to think, his mind began to wander, bringing up some questions he had been meaning to ask for a long time.

"Father?" Zane glanced over, hands fidgeting in his lap. "Why did you erase my memories?"

"What do you mean?" Dr. Julien looked worriedly over at his son, who seemed like he was regretting saying anything at all.

"I know you told me that you wished to spare me emotional pain, but being abandoned for several years would be far more heartbreaking, at least in my opinion. So, I do not entirely believe that was your only reason," Zane trailed his fingers over the latch to his wrist panel, settling his gaze on his father now, who seemed to wear an odd expression of both pride and disappointment.

"Sometimes I regret making you so intelligent, Zane," He laughed, albeit a bit nervously, but Zane didn't even crack a smile. "I see you don't quite believe me, and you have good reason to. It does seem rather cruel of me, doesn't it? Strip you of your memories and leave you to rebuild yourself from the bottom up?"

Zane nodded slightly, and Dr. Julien put an arm around his shoulders, and Zane relaxed slightly into the sideways embrace.

"How carefully have you examined your blueprints?"

"Closely enough to know that any strong emotions, such as extreme depression and heartbreak, had never been tested," Zane said more than a little coldly, the last word practically turning to ice with resentment. He had worried for a long time that he was nothing more than an invention to his father, something built to be observed and experimented with. Overtime, those accusations were proven entirely false, but the memories still left a bad taste in the Nindroid's mouth. In response, Dr. Julien only wrapped his arm tighter around the Ice Ninja.

"Zane, I didn't want to overload your systems with the emotions that come with the death of a loved one. I didn't know what would happen to you. I was afraid that without the proper guidance and other human connections, you would-"

"You don't need to continue. I know what you are trying to say," Zane nodded and stood, cutting off the rest of the conversation.

"Listen to me, I-"

"No," Zane snapped, and his father couldn't help but be shocked at his sudden outburst, and Zane took that as an opportunity to flee, leaving Dr. Julien behind.

* * *

"Have you seen Zane lately?" Jay asked a few days later at breakfast.

"Not since Tuesday. Why?" Kai responded, taking a bite of his cereal. Zane was supposed to cook breakfast, but that clearly wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Well, Dr. Julien came back that night pretty upset. Didn't say a word on what it was about, but I'd bet it has to do with Frosty," Jay nibbled on his granola bar, and Kai frowned.

"That's not good. Those two have been inseparable lately," The Fire Ninja shook his head. Just then, the door opened and slammed shut, and the two jumped.

"Hey, careful with the-"

"Zane?"

The usually calm Ice Ninja strode into the kitchen, well, looking like a mess. His hair was disheveled, he looked like he hadn't slept a wink, and he was wearing the same clothes as he was Tuesday, which meant he had taken a trip over to his old home.

"Jay. Kai," Zane greeted, nodding slightly, before grabbing an apple and walking back out again, his boots clunking on the floor. The door slammed shut, and Kai just stared, mouth agape in disbelief. Both ninja locked eyes in silent agreement and raced after Zane, who turned back around in annoyance at the two.

"What?"

"Where the heck have you been?" Kai asked, and Jay had to pull on his sleeve to stop the Fire Ninja from personally dragging Zane back inside.

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"Information that was so kindly revealed to me the other night. Now, if you don't mind-" Zane turned and went to leave again, and Jay let Kai go.

He grabbed the Ice Ninja by the hood, and Zane waved his hand off, facing the two ninja again.

"Kai, please, I just want to-"

"What's wrong?" Jay inquired, and Zane shook his head.

"You all wouldn't care. I don't want you to care," He backed up, clearly uncomfortable.

"Zane, look, you can't just hide away in Birchwood Forest every time you feel like moping," Kai crossed his arms, and the Ice Ninja lowered his gaze to the floor.

"You wouldn't understand. I'm not doing this for me," He said quietly, and Jay almost screamed in frustration.

"Then who are you hiding away for?" The Lightning Ninja regained a bit of calmness, repressing any urge to tie the Ice Ninja up inside so he couldn't just walk out anymore.

"All of you. Ninjago, even."

"Zane, you're not making any sense," Kai rapped his fingers on his arms impatiently.

"Just... ask my father if you need to, I-" Zane went to turn and leave, but Jay caught his arm.

"We're hearing it from you."

Zane sighed, apparently giving in, and leaned on the railing.

"My father had told me that when he thought he was dying for good, he shut off my memories so I wouldn't have to experience the pains of losing a loved one. But, really, the abandonment I felt in that village was worse than the pain of death, at least from what I can tell."

Zane paused, taking a deep breath.

"I suspected that there was more to it than that. What kind of father would force more pain upon their child? I asked him the other night if there was any ulterior motives to his actions, and I got an answer that I was expecting yet unprepared for at the same time."

Both of the listeners awaited the continuation, feeling anticipation bubble in their stomachs.

"He didn't know how I would react to such a rush of negative emotion. I was still mentally young, and without proper guidance, he feared I might... use my gifts to destroy, not to protect. But I still haven't experienced any emotion of the sort, so I could still..."

Zane trailed off, but they knew what he was going to say.

"Zane. You're not going to hurt us. You're not going to hurt anyone. Alright? We trust you. If anything happens to one of us, well, I don't know what would happen. But we're a team, and you're not leaving because of this, got it? Now, let's get you a proper breakfast," Jay tugged on Zane's sleeve, and the Ice Ninja smiled slightly, and let the two drag him inside for a nice, gourmet bowl of cereal.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! This one was requested by The Night Ninja, who wanted to see Sensei and Zane have a secret gaming session. Enjoy!**

* * *

The ninja rolled the die. It landed on a three, and all except one groaned.

"It's not even gonna be anything big. Just a robbery. I don't know why this many of us need to go!" Jay huffed, grabbing his die and stuffing it back in his bag.

"It's just in case it _is_ something big. The only reason someone stays behind is that if we need a contact back at the Bounty, we have one. Now, get your weapons and let's go," Cole rolled his eyes, and the rest ran off to get their weapons except for one.

"We'll see you in a bit, yeah?" Cole turned to Zane, who nodded.

"However long it takes you all. Jay is just upset because it hasn't rolled a five in weeks," Zane smiled, and Cole laughed.

"Yeah. Are you taking over dinner duty?" Cole asked, walking towards the door.

"Yes, as Kai is now on a mission. I'll see you in a while," Zane called out as Cole rushed out the door with the rest, waving at the Ice Ninja. Once he heard the door shut, he wandered into the kitchen, where he thumbed through old recipe books he had picked up at a thrift shop a few weeks ago.

"I haven't done calamari yet, and this sauce would pair quite well," Zane thought out loud he stuck a post-it note on the page and continued his reading. Just then, the front door opened, and a pair of footsteps echoed through the halls. Assuming it to be Nya, Zane didn't pay any mind to it, and scanned a few pages. It was when he heard the game console boot up in the gaming room that he became confused. Nya, as much as she loved playing games, preferred multiplayer games over playing by herself, as gloating when she beat her brother was one of her favorite pastimes.

He crept up to the room, and peered inside, only to be surprised when he saw his Sensei loading up Fist-To-Face 2.

"Sensei?" Zane asked, and his teacher startled and glanced over at the Ice Ninja.

"Come in, Zane. I thought you and the others were out on a mission," He patted the spot beside him, and Zane settled down.

"We rolled dice to see who would stay behind and watch the Bounty in the other's absence. My number was rolled, obviously," Zane watched as Sensei selected a character and started a match against a CPU. "Do you always play video games when we are on missions?"

"Usually only on Saturdays. I reserve my free time for meditation and training, as you all should be doing as well," He cast a teasing glance at Zane, who looked sheepishly down at the floor. "I only play for a few hours a week when you all are busy."

"Do you mind if I join?" Zane asked, and his teacher nodded.

"Go ahead, Zane," Sensei smiled, and restarted the match as Zane grabbed a controller. They played for a few hours until the sun set, and Zane realized he hadn't made anything for dinner yet, and his friends would probably be home any minute now. Defeated, Zane picked up the Bounty's phone and ordered pizza, much to the delight of the others when they came back tired and hungry.

"Zane decided to treat us tonight. Not like your cooking is anything less than amazing," Cole grabbed an entire pizza and winked at the Ice Ninja, who shrugged.

"I suppose I just lost track of time."

* * *

The playing continued whenever they found time, mostly on Saturdays, Zane even "legally" downloading games to play on the screen from online, even risking a few viruses along the way. They managed to keep it secret from the others for a while, despite a few very close calls. The secrecy was ruined one night at dinner when Sensei produced a very rare laugh out of the Ice Ninja.

The team was eating one of Jay's meals of grilled vegetables and chicken when Sensei made a remark under his breath to Zane, who smiled and stifled a laugh. hand cover his mouth.

"What's so funny?" Kai raised an eyebrow, noting the Ice Ninja's rare chuckle, and Zane shrugged.

"You wouldn't understand," Sensei smiled. "It's an 'inside joke'."

"You two hang out enough alone to have inside jokes?" Jay asked.

Zane and Wu glanced at each other with an almost telepathic conversation of asking and granting permission to tell.

"Yes, actually. Every Saturday or so."

"You mean when you guys are 'meditating'?" Lloyd made air quotes, and Zane nodded.

"Yes, it is a quite peaceful time for the both of us."

"Only when you're winning," Sensei remarked, and the Ice Ninja smiled playfully.

"Very true."

"Winning? You can't win at meditation," Kai accused, seeing where the conversation was going.

"What're you guys _really_ doing?" Jay asked, resting his head on his hands.

Once again, teacher and student exchanged a look.

"Playing video games," Sensei smiled, and Nya sighed.

"Come on, you two? The most calm and respectable people have been playing video games under the guise of meditating for how long now?"

"A few months or so," Zane answered, and the rest of the ninja groaned.

"So _that's_ where all the new high scores are coming from!" Lloyd banged his fork on the table, and Jay nodded.

"So, can we join you guys now?" Jay asked, and Sensei turned to Zane, who thought for a second.

"Only if you can beat me in a tournament match," He challenged, and Jay cackled.

"Oh, it is on!" He yelled, and raced to the controls, Zane following close behind, most likely scrambling to choose his favorite fighter before Jay could.

The rest of the team continued eating until they heard a defeated cry from the other room. A minute later, Jay slunk back in to the dining room, sighing.

"Well, I guess it stays the two of you for now," He said, plopping down at his seat, and Sensei smiled.

"You can join us, Jay. The rest of you as well."

"Ha, I knew one of you would give in at some point," Nya smirked, and the team continued eating their dinner, Jay promising to the crew that one day, he would be able to beat Zane in a one-on-one match.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello! This one is just pure winter fun, so enjoy!**

* * *

Snow was forecasted for the morning, and Jay was so excited you could practically feel it radiating off of him.

"I do not quite get what the fuss is all about. What is so special about snow?" Zane looked up from his book to see the Lightning Ninja looking excitedly out the window at the first few flakes.

"You're different, you grew up constantly surrounded by the stuff. Plus, you're the Master of Ice. I thought you'd be more excited to be surrounded by your element," Jay glanced back as Zane shrugged.

"Snow is not the same as ice, I suppose. I prefer ice skating over playing in the snow anyway."

"You don't like playing in the snow? Like, making snowmen and snowball fights and all that?" Jay managed to pull himself away from the window. "Like, I get Kai not being a fan, but you can create balls of snow at will! Like, you're the perfect partner for an all out snow war!"

"I don't dislike it, I just prefer ice skating over snowball fights," Zane summoned a little snow in his hands, before making it disappear.

"Have you ever tried skiing or anything?"

"No, I haven't. Ice skating is more accessible to me, usually."

"Maybe you could help us all learn to skate sometime. Cole, Nya, and I aren't very good, and Kai and Lloyd haven't done it at all!" Jay stood in front of Zane, a begging look in his eyes, and the Ice Ninja nodded.

"Perhaps tomorrow, weather permitting."

"Cool! I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning then!" Jay perked up and ran to his room, Zane returning back to his book.

* * *

Zane had left the Bounty three hours ago. He had said he'd be back soon, and ditched. Naturally, Jay decided to go find him since he was promised ice skating lessons by the Master of Ice himself. So, that's why he found himself getting pummeled in the face by snow as he was searching for his friend.

The snowstorm had only picked up in intensity, making the foot of snow he was wading through quite unforgivable as fresh, heavy flakes coated his exposed skin and his clothes.

"Zane!" He yelled through the wind for the hundredth time, but was surprised this time when the empty air answered back.

"Jay?" The Ice Ninja turned around, his skates making a small circle in the ice he was standing on. "Jay! What are you doing out here?"

Jay was greeted by a sudden respite from the snow, Zane pulling him under a cover of ice, thin walls keeping out the biting wind.

"I was looking for you, but then the storm got worse and jeez, it's really cold out there and-"

"Why did you go out alone in this? You could've at least brought Lloyd or Kai with you, they can summon _fire_ for goodness sake!"

"I didn't think it was going to get this bad out," Jay shivered, dusting snow off of his face. Zane frowned, and closed off the entrance to the structure, preventing any more wind from reaching the freezing Lightning Ninja.

"I may have a resistance to cold, but you do not," Zane stated, and Jay rolled his eyes.

"Ok, mom. I get it. What are you even doing out here, anyway?"

"I wanted to skate."

"Did you.. build your own rink?" Jay looked around, a flat sheet of ice covering the ground in front of him, the ice walls rising high above. Zane clicked one skate against the ice, and Jay couldn't help but stare. "You made your own skates, too."

"Yes, I did. I realize traveling out here with a pair of skates would only slow me down. Adding blades to my shoes was much easier."

"Aw, man, I can't do anything this cool with lightning!" Jay complained, tracing the swirling patterns on the ice walls with a gloved hand.

"Your element can create light. You can power your own inventions as well. I believe that is just as incredible," Zane offered a hand to Jay. "Would you like to skate?"

"Sure, but I didn't bring my- Oh, right, ice powers."

Zane smiled and knelt, lifting up Jay's left foot and touching his hand to the sole of the shoe. As he ran his fingers down the middle, a thin blade of ice formed, mimicking the ones found on figure skates. He did the same to the other shoe, and soon Jay was gliding around on the ice, albeit clumsily.

"Wow, this is even better than normal skating. I mean, the ice is so smooth," Jay almost wanted to bend down and run his fingers along the ice, but decided against it, knowing that he'd just fall over.

"Being able to produce your own ice does have its perks," Zane admitted, practically skating circles around the Lightning Ninja. "Now, you were promised lessons, and I intend to fulfil that promise."

"Well, we have a while until the storm dies down, so what's first?"

"First, we're going to fix your form..."

* * *

It was five hours later that the two returned to the Bounty, and managed to avoid being scolded by the rest by Zane promising to make hot chocolate for the Bounty, and soon everyone's mild anger melted away with the hot drinks. Jay's fingers were still numb, but the mug he was holding was certainly working the feeling back into his fingers. Him and Zane were currently reclined on the gaming couch, watching a holiday special on the TV.

He drained his mug, and set it down on the floor, curling up tighter with the blanket he had wrapped around him. Zane was only halfway done his cup, taking leisurely sips as he watched the program. There the two sat until the show was over, but they were both fast asleep by the time it was over.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys! This was a request from a guest named Mystey, who wanted to see some bonding time with the ninja after Season 2. Also, a massive thanks to StoriesAreMagic and RandomDragon2.0 for their reviews over the whole collection! You guys are awesome. :) Enjoy the chapter!**

Jay let out a quiet, content sigh, his eyes fluttering shut as his head rested on Cole's arm. Being turned into an evil minion by pure dark matter and saving Ninjago with golden energy really drains you. It had already been a few days, but the ninja had slept away most of the hours, and none of them had left their home since. Ninjago was still recovering, and helping with the clean up might have been a good idea, but honestly, they deserved a few days of rest.

The others seemed to agree, as Cole was leaning back on the couch, half asleep as Jay soaked in the Earth Master's warmth. On the other side of the couch, Lloyd was sleeping with his foot elevated on an ottoman, hands folded in his lap. Kai and Nya were draped over each other on the other couch, Kai not having left Nya's side since the Final Battle was over, and Zane was sleeping by himself in a chair across from the siblings, a book in his hands, open as if he had paused his activities to take a quick nap.

Cole stirred a bit, and Jay lifted his head up for a moment to look at the Earth Ninja, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey, Jay," Cole yawned, and wrapped an arm around the Lightning Ninja, personal space being thrown out the window. After the recent events, they were all too glad they all made it out in one piece to really care about "expected" friend behaviors.

"Hey," Jay mumbled, and relaxed once more.

Lloyd raised his head, rubbing his eyes, and took a second to focus on the room around him.

"I see you two are up," He smiled, and Cole nodded. "That's good. We should all probably start being more productive."

"Nah, you deserve some rest, Greenie. Enjoy this brief period of time when we're not being threatened by world-ending disasters," Jay chuckled, and Lloyd shrugged, but couldn't suppress a smile anyway.

Nya was next to wake, and Kai followed almost immediately after.

"What time is it?" Kai grumbled, his hair sticking up even more than usual.

"No idea," Nya replied, yawning and stretching out her arms, "accidently" hitting her brother on the nose.

"Is Zane awake yet?" Jay turned, but the Ice Ninja hadn't stirred. The Lightning Ninja could see the many dents that littered the Nindroid's skin from the battle a few days ago, his short sleeves doing nothing to hide the damage. As if reading his mind, Cole looked at the Ice Ninja with disapproval.

"Shouldn't we fix those? Surely they can't feel very good," He said, and Jay nodded.

"Yeah, I'll get around to it eventually. If he ever wakes up," He sat up, releasing himself from Cole's arm, and the lack of warmth made him shiver. He stood, and walked over to Zane, lightly shaking the Nindroid's shoulder.

Zane grumbled a bit and swatted Jay's hand away, opening his eyes.

"C'mon, we gotta fix up your arms."

"I am fine, Jay. I can handle it on my own."

"Well, you've got a personal repairman who hates seeing you with dents in your arms so we're going now."

Zane sighed and set his book down on the table, letting Jay lead him out of the room.

"And then there were four," Lloyd joked, stretching his arms.

"Where's the rest of the crew? I mean, let's see, we've got Sensei, and Dr. Julien, and Misako, and Garmadon now, apparently," Cole counted off on his fingers.

"Huh, I guess I forgot about Garmadon. Y'know, with all the craziness. We just kind of... passed out after, you know?" Kai scratched an itch on his arm, and stood. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm in need of some good ol' food and water."

"Same here," Nya followed suite, and the rest were soon to join, all headed to make the meanest batch of sandwiches Ninjago has ever seen.

* * *

Zane rested his head on the hand that wasn't being looked at by Jay, the Lightning Ninja chastising the disinterested Nindroid, who was sitting on Jay's workbench.

"You can't be this reckless, Zane. Surely this has to hurt, right?"

"It doesn't matter. It's quickly fixed, so I don't see it as much of an inconvenience."

"But does it hurt?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then that settles it. It does matter."

Zane didn't retort, and Jay took that as a sign that the conversation was over.

"Do you really think you being hurt is less of a deal then one of us?" Jay asked a few minutes later, all criticizing tone gone from his voice.

"It takes significantly longer for one of you to heal than it does me, so the logical answer would be-"

"No."

"Pardon?"

"There's your 'logical answer'. No, it's not."

Just as Zane was about to retort, Dr. Julien stepped in, and Jay could see Zane's features visibly soften at the sight of his father.

"Pardon my interruption, I was just wondering if I could be of assistance to you both."

"Actually, if you want to take over fixing Zane, that'd be great. I need to go grab some food anyway," Jay let go of Zane's arm, and gave Zane a pointed look as he went through the doorway.

"Fixing you, eh? I'm sure it's nothing too bad," Dr. Julien took Jay's place, and Zane shrugged.

"They make a bigger deal out of my scuffs and dents than I do. It is merely an inconvenience, nothing more," Zane's gaze traveled over the imperfections in his usually smooth skin, comparing them mentally to past injuries.

"Do forgive me, but I did hear a bit of your conversation walking in. The cuts in your skin matter just as much as the ones in ours, son," The man opened Zane's wrist panel and tapped a few buttons, and Zane could feel power rushing to the dented areas. Within moments, the craters began to rise, reversing the damage.

"But, how did you..." Zane trailed off, staring at his now fixed arms in awe, feeling where the dents once were.

"My apologies, I didn't include that in your standard blueprints. It was more of an extra feature that I added later on."

"I didn't know I could do that," Zane stated. "What was the code?"

"04689."

"Duly noted."

"But I don't want this to further prove your argument Zane. Your pain is not less valid because of who you are," Dr. Julien helped Zane down from the table. "You were built to protect others, and you can't exactly do that with broken pieces."

Zane seemed to take this to heart, thoughtfulness reflected in his eyes.

"Let's go get you some food, shall we?" Dr. Julien smiled, and put an arm around Zane's back.

"I've missed you greatly, Father," Zane said softly, his arm going around his father's shoulders.

Dr. Julien laughed, and Zane couldn't help but smile.

"Me too, son. Me too."


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys! This was a request by Razena, who wanted to see Zane deal with Dr. Julien's death. Enjoy!**

* * *

The day had started out normal enough. The ninja kept planning for their school, arguments had happened over who would teach what subject, and Zane had written a letter to his father, who was currently at his home in Birchwood Forest, discussing plans for a new invention of Jay's. When the mail came, everyone was expecting the same old bunch, a few fan letters, magazines no one subscribed to, and maybe a letter from Jay's parents or Cole's dad, if they were lucky. Naturally, Zane was surprised when he was given a letter that was sealed much too formally to have come from his dusty workshop or a child's desk.

Zane carefully unglued the flap from the letter, almost scared to take out the paper held inside. The seal from the Ninjago City Hall was printed onto the back of the glossy paper, and Zane lingered on the design before flipping the letter over. The others were too busy with their own mail to notice Zane's hesitation, pouring over their own letters and small gifts.

Zane only had to read the first few lines before he swore he could feel his heart almost stop.

Dr. Julien... deceased.

He shook his head, fingers fumbling with the paper and bringing it closer to his face, as if it would reveal some hidden meaning buried in-between the lines. A heart attack. Two days ago. Sudden. Sorry for your loss. Funeral to be held on-

Zane crumpled up the letter in his hands, turning and running back to his room, already feeling tears gathering in his eyes. He could hear a few of the others call after him, but he didn't stop until he was behind his locked door, curled up on his bed, the paper dropped somewhere along the way. Someone knocked on his door a minute later, but another pulled them back, judging by the hushed scolding and the retreating footsteps. They must have found the crumpled letter by now.

No one knocked on his door for a while after that. He heard footsteps approach, hesitate, and leave once more, but they never attempted to gain access to the grieving Ice Ninja.

It was maybe three hours later when a faint knock was heard again, and they didn't leave immediately after. Zane sighed, wiped any tears from his eyes, and walked over to the door, opening it. Surprisingly, it was Lloyd.

"Hi," The Green Ninja said awkwardly, not used to seeing Zane so disheveled. "Can I come in?"

Zane stepped aside, and Lloyd shut the door behind him, joining Zane on the bed.

"Sorry, Zane. This sucks," He said, and Zane nodded. Lloyd handed him the letter, now more smoothed out, and Zane accepted it, glancing over the introduction before setting it down. He'd lose whatever composure he had left if he even looked at that paper one more time. "Anything we can do to help?"

Zane shrugged, already feeling the tears gather again. _Crap._

"Actually, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to head to bed now," The Ice Ninja pat his bed for emphasis, and Lloyd nodded.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you in the morning then," He gave Zane a quick hug before leaving, closing the door as he left. Zane, true to his word, slipped under the covers and fell asleep quickly, tired from all of the crying.

* * *

Zane woke up later than normal, and made his way to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

Everyone was acting way nicer than normal. All it did was make the Ice Ninja feel even worse, so he grabbed a mug, dumped what he thought was the right amount of cream in, and stormed outside, the sunny sky and birds chirping only worsening his mood. He found a place to sit, angled so that he couldn't see the work in progress school and all of its inhabitants, and drank his coffee in tense silence. It was almost winter, and it was still warm out. Not even the weather was going to let him sulk.

Resisting the urge to smash his mug into the ground since it was one of his favorites, he drank the last of it and set it down on the ground. It was then that he noticed Lloyd a little ways away, chatting with someone.

Garmadon. Right, he was a part of the crew now. Of course, right when Lloyd gains his father, Zane loses his. That's how this was going to work. They seemed to have noticed him too, and before Zane could come up with a decent excuse to escape, they were upon him.

"Hey Zane," Lloyd greeted, but his smile dropped when he saw Zane's expression. Unusually pissed off.

"Hello, Lloyd," He nodded curtly, and Garmadon looked between the two and mumbled something to Lloyd before pulling him away, at Lloyd's dismay.

Zane brushed the encounter off and stood, heading back towards the kitchen with mug in hand. While washing his cup, Cole attempted to initiate conversation, but gave up after all Zane did was shrug and dodge his questions. The Ice Ninja knew that on a normal day, he would've been chewed out for acting so rudely, but no one wanted to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Zane dismissed himself, ignoring Kai and Sensei's attempts to start a conversation on his way back to his room, and shut his door, careful not to slam it. That would be another problem on its own. He sat down in his desk chair, and had to stop himself from slamming his head against the wood until it jarred his circuits enough where he would forget above this whole ordeal.

Forget. Circuits. Memory switch!

Zane tore off his shirt, not caring about the rapping on his door, and threw open his chest panel, fingers about to flip the switch and-

" _What are you doing!_ " Jay practically yelled, ripping his arms away from his chest. "Are you stupid? Why would you..." Jay trailed off, releasing his grip on Zane's wrists. His door was flung open, Kai and Sensei Wu watching from the hallway, horrified. Cole's footsteps could be heard quickly approaching, but Zane just stared at Jay, his mind catching up with the situation.

What was he doing? Was he willing to throw away all of what he's built so he wouldn't go through this heartbreak again?

"I don't know," Zane admitted, closing his chest panel and dropping his hands to his lap.

"Don't... don't scare us like that. I didn't know what you were going to press, I thought you were going to flip something with more deadly consequences," Jay forced himself to take deep breaths, and Zane brought his knees up, covering himself a bit.

Kai grabbed Zane's sheet from his bed, and practically threw it at the Ice Ninja, dragging Zane down the hall to where the TV was set up.

"You're going to sit here, and you're going to watch comedies with us until we get at least a smile out of you, got it?" Kai asked a question, but Zane didn't really have a choice as the rest of the team piled around him, minus Lloyd.

It may have taken Zane a while to even crack a grin, but he did eventually, and the team didn't let him leave until he had laughed so hard he thought he was going to die, the others around him cackling until their stomachs hurt. He would deal with the pain later. For now, he had the rest of his family to cherish.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys! This one was suggested by AlessiaSkyler, who wanted to see Evil Zane. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Zane, seriously? You could've had Jay pinned long before that," Kai laughed, and the Ice Ninja shrugged, taking a sip from the bottle of water marked with a 'Z' on the cap.

"Hey, I'm just having an off day today, alright?" Jay flushed pink, crossing his arms.

"Alright, when you're ready," Lloyd pointed his wooden staff at Zane, who nodded, returning to the circle drawn in sidewalk chalk.

As soon as the two started sparring, Zane knew something wasn't right. His vision darkened, the once vibrant blue of the sky turning ashen and muddled. His hearing went fuzzy, like cotton had been stuffed in his ears. His own breathing echoed in his head, the humming of his heart pulsing through him. He felt his knees hit the ground as they gave out beneath him, but there was no pain, only the thump that shook his legs. Muffled shouts of his name were the last things he heard before he slipped under, his head hitting the wooden deck as he fainted.

Zane woke up to the same grey sky, except this time he knew he was seeing clearly. He heard the rain hitting the ground beside him as he gathered his thoughts, sitting up. His gi should have been splattered with raindrops, but he was completely dry. He was on a bed of rock, seemingly in the middle of a field, with trees visible in the distance. There were footsteps approaching from behind, barely audible through the rain. He quickly rose to his feet, ready to fight if needed.

To his surprise, he was facing himself, although other him didn't seem to know he was there. The other Zane's face plate was slightly cracked, causing his right eye to glitch and flicker between the icy blue of his power source to a startling crimson red. The other eye seemed to be intact, however, and Zane chose to focus on that one. The other him clutched his shurikens in his hands, and by how hard it appeared he was gripping them, the joints in his hands were most likely protesting against the force.

Zane decided to think of this Zane as Alternate, to try and disassociate himself from the disheveled, glitching one in front of him. He decided to follow Alternate, and ran alongside his counterpart, although his footsteps were so light, he felt as if he was flying.

"Hello?" Zane tried to communicate, but Alternate kept running, the rain soaking through his gi even more as the wet grass stuck to his shoes and pants. The lookalike was mumbling something to himself, a tendency Zane had picked up from the others, so at least Alternate wasn't totally different. Eventually, Alternate suddenly stopped, and turned towards the sky for a moment. Zane skidded to a stop, and inspected Alternate more closely.

His gi was torn in quite a few places, and some of the knuckles on his fingers were spilt, showing glints of silver beneath the skin.

 _Funny._ Zane thought to himself. _Jay would have fixed that up pretty fast._

Quickly, Alternate began running again, ducking under a large rock nearby. Huh, they had wandered into an area with lots of rocks. Zane never really noticed that.

The Destiny's Bounty appeared above, and Alternate held his breath, scrunching farther under the rock, his eye settling on red for the moment.

Zane almost felt the need to hide too, but that seemed kind of pointless. Suddenly, the world around him shifted, a whirl of colors and lights, and he found himself on top of his ship, an exhausted team of clones minus Zane, Jay, and Nya peering out the windows and steering the ship.

Alternate Cole's eyes were vermillion and raw from either crying or excessive rubbing, the dark bags under his eyes a stark contrast against the blood around his irises.

Alternate Kai looked angrier than Zane had ever seen him, brown eyes seemingly burning with the desire to hurt.

Alternate Lloyd steered the ship, looking like he had aged a lifetime in the span of a day.

"Lloyd, are you..." Zane faded off, remembering they couldn't hear him.

Cole thumped his head against the window, letting out a shuddering sigh.

"It's no use," Cole sighed, voice cracking. "He's gone."

"The day we give up is the day I die," Kai spat out, but Cole and Lloyd flinched, the Earth Ninja swiping at his eyes.

"Kai, please," Lloyd said, his voice scratchy as well. "We both know how much you want to keep going, but we haven't had proper sleep or even time to grieve since..." The Green Ninja gulped, the sorrow painful in his throat.

"Look, I miss him too, Lloyd, but crying isn't going to solve this. Jay is dead, we can't undo that. The best thing we can do for Ninjago right now is get rid of the threat," Kai said, un unusual tinge of coldness to his words, and Zane felt like Kai had just punched him. Did Alternate kill Jay?

The world spun again, but Zane wasn't surprised this time. He came into focus on Jay, kneeling on the ground, holding his stomach. He followed the Lightning Ninja's gaze, and saw himself but with no injuries, and he might as well have been looking in a mirror. Jay was clearly in pain, an angry bruise forming on the side of his face, eyes wet with unshed tears. Jay pleaded something, but Zane couldn't understand it, but Alternate shook his head and raised his arms, burying blades of ice into Jay's gut.

Zane was crying now, kneeling beside Jay, wanting to hold him, but could only watch as the life drained from his eyes, his body falling to the floor as his knees gave out and blood dripped from his wound, dying parts of his bright blue uniform a brilliant red.

Zane looked up with a glare, tears still falling, to see Alternate looking straight at him.

"Watch yourself, Zane," He laughed, and Zane only had time to process the words before Cole burst in through the door, aiming a punch at Alternate's head-

Zane's vision went black.

 _Zane._

 _Zane._

 _Zane!_

 _ZANE!_

Zane woke up with a start, to find that his eyes were still wet with tears, a few stray ones still clinging to his face.

"Are you ok?" Lloyd asked frantically, leaning over him, blonde hair circling him like a halo.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Kai sighed. "Jeez, you can't scare us like that."

"How... how long was I out for?" Zane asked, a bit embarrassed that his voice portrayed his emotions, wavering and stumbling over his words.

"Only about five minutes, but then you started crying and we didn't know what the heck was going on," Kai explained, and Zane sat up, Lloyd and Kai sitting next to him.

"I had a vision, but it was so... unusual. I certainly hope it wasn't the future," Zane nervously fiddled with his sleeves. To tell or not to tell?

"Well, I'm going to go tell Cole and the others that you're ok. They went off to get some stuff in case you needed repairs or something," Kai stood, dusting himself off, and ran back inside.

"Zane, what happened?" Lloyd asked, his expression serious. Zane's visions were not to be taken lightly, as the crew had learned.

Zane wiped his face, clearing away the last of the tears, and looked Lloyd in the eyes. Emerald orbs stared back, and Zane sighed, turning his gaze downward.

"First, I saw myself, running through a field. I was in worse shape, my face was cracked and by knuckles were broken, and I was hiding from the Bounty, although I wasn't sure why. Then, I was inside the Bounty, and you, Cole, and Kai were looking for someone, I presumed it to be me, and Kai kept saying that crying wouldn't solve the fact that Jay was dead, and then I saw myself _kill_ him, and I just-!" Zane buried his head in his hands, the sobs returning, but this time Lloyd put an arm around him, but Zane could sense his nervous heartbeat. Lloyd was scared.

"You killed Jay?" The Green Ninja asked quietly, and Zane nodded, lifting his head up, the sobs slowing down. "Zane, it's just a vision, it's not guaranteed to happen. We know you would never hurt any of use like that, ok?"

Zane swallowed hard, but murmured his agreement nonetheless. Lloyd helped him up, smiling as best he could at the Ice Ninja.

"Ok, let's get you inside and-"

"Oh thank goodness!" Jay exclaimed, running out to greet Zane a relieved smile on his face as he gazed up at the Nindroid, but it quickly faded as he saw Zane's condition. "Zane, bud, you ok?"

Zane just stared before hugging Jay so tightly the Lightning Ninja thought his ribs were going to pop. Images of Jay with ice embedded in his gut flashed through his mind, and he just locked his arms around Jay harder, afraid that if he let go that Jay would crumple to the ground in a pile of bruises and frost. Jay didn't ask anymore questions, and just let the Ice Ninja hold him until Zane felt comfortable enough to let go.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey y'all! Enjoy this unusually long chapter that was very spur of the moment, so I hope you guys like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Zane had been gone for three days. Well, as annoying as it was, it wasn't the first time the Ice Ninja had pulled a disappearing act. Even more annoyingly, it wasn't the first time it had been... _inconveniencing_ to say the least.

So, here they were, tracking down a snake sighting with no Zane. Again. Last time, he had shown up fairly quickly after the battle had started, with the Falcon's assistance.

"You guys wanna bet on how long it'll take for Frosty to show up?" Kai smirked, and the team shrugged.

"I mean, not really, but I'd place mine under the five minutes category," Cole grinned, and Jay laughed.

"Pfft, really? I bet fifteen. What about you, Hothead?"

"I don't know, maybe ten? And don't call me that," Kai growled as they neared the scene. No Zane yet. Great. The team lingered, half hoping that the Ice Ninja would show and tell them the number of snakes out there and the odds of the results, but no Nindroid made an appearance. After five minutes passed, Cole sighed and motioned the two forward.

"Alright, let's just go. There's no use in waiting around for him to pop out of the sky."

* * *

Honestly, Zane could lay like this forever. Limbs half buried in snow, fresh flakes floating around him, albeit sparsely, eyes fluttering shut as he encased himself in the calm coldness of his element. Absolutely perfect. That is until he felt a rumbling under him, shaking some of the snow off of him.

He shot up, reached down for his shurikens, and realized he had left them back at his home. Some words that Sensei would certainly scold him for flew through his head as the source of the noise made itself visible. A Treehorn.

"I thought I dealt with you," Zane muttered, but pulled his mask on nonetheless, edging his way towards his base, where his weapons and Falcon were nesting.

The Treehorn made a noise halfway in between a roar and a groan, going to stomp the Ice Ninja, only for him to roll out of the way. Throwing most of his tactics out the window, he decided to just book it, and started running towards the fake tree, the monster hot on his heels thanks to the long strides.

An especially earth-shattering thump knocked him to the ground, the mud under the snow staining his gi as he lay stunned for a split second. He cursed his father for giving him human reflexes as he barely avoided being flattened, scrambling to his feet. As soon as he regained his balance, he was kicked by one of the long legs, which sent him slamming into a nearby rock surface, which he had previously used for meditating. He felt mechanics snap in his back, and knew that if he was human, that would have been life-threatening, if not deadly. His head also took a blow, marking it down as a severe human concussion.

Hoping that it wasn't as detrimental as it was painful, he blinked away any warnings his body tried to display to him and rose to his feet, although shaky and slightly unbalanced. He mentally cursed himself for not hooking a communication link up between him and the Bounty, because some extra help would be _amazing_ right now. He blasted some ice at the Treehorn's head, and although it stopped it for a few seconds, did next to no damage.

 _Think, Zane. Think!_ He tried to tell himself, but when all of his excess energy was being used so he wouldn't keel over, it was hard to formulate a plan. Just then, something clicked. _True Potential!_

Despite the fact that his systems wanted nothing more than to shut down and try and heal, Zane mustered up all the power he possibly could, which admittedly wasn't that much and he hoped it would do, and conjured up any memories of the day he had discovered his origins, from following the Falcon to blasting the Queen, which he hoped he could do right now-

He fired. His vision clouded over with a blue sheen, and he felt the cold from the ice being expelled from his body, his feet leaving the ground by about a yard or so. When he felt himself hit solid ground again, he opened his eyes cautiously, and saw the threat encased in sharp ice. He exhaled, laughed a little, and promptly passed out in the snow.

* * *

The three arrived back at the Bounty two hours later, as they had gone out for burgers after the battle and were now happy and not hangry, and were only going to kill Zane a little bit for not showing up to help fight. They were surprised to return to the Bounty to find it was only Lloyd and Nya, who were off doing their separate things while Sensei did whatever Sensei does in his free time.

"Did Zane come back yet?" Kai asked his sister, who shook her head as she toyed away with some scrap metal.

"Haven't seen him if he did," Nya grumbled, which was Kai's cue to leave her alone.

"Hey Lloyd, you seen Zane?" Jay called out to Lloyd, who was training with earbuds in. The Green Ninja took one out and shook his head, resuming his attack on the punching bag.

"Huh. I guess the Falcon didn't alert him this time," Cole leaned against the kitchen counter, and Jay huffed.

"It's not fair! Zane can go on his week long 'meditation breaks', but we can't even take an afternoon off without being overloaded with extra chores," Jay grumbled. "Sensei's totally playing favorites."

"Yeah, I'm siding with Jay on this one. It's pretty stupid," Kai frowned, and Cole nodded. Suddenly, the Falcon burst in, cawing like crazy, and all three ninja jumped with varying levels of screaming.

"You're a little late," Jay grumbled, embarrassed. The Falcon perched on his head for a second before displaying a picture of Zane lying unconscious in the snow, a visible gash in his head and a large imprint in his chest, scarily close to his power source. Jay swore, and the others decided that maybe grilling Sensei for playing favorites would have to wait.

They arrived in Birchwood Forest quickly, and ran together, since only Zane knew the layout of the massive woods, and he was not of any help right now. They stumbled upon him, and Jay, although he hated doing it because it was always so awkward, slid Zane's gi shirt off of him to open his chest panel, which was a little stuck due to the dents. Cole and Kai were mesmerized by the giant frozen Treehorn looming over them, posed to attack, one massive leg raised to strike the Nindroid.

"Alright, he'll be fine, it's just... really _really_ too close for comfort," Jay sighed, parting Zane's hair to inspect the head wound, which was long, but shallow. Jay went to prop Zane up so he could turn him on and ask how he was doing, but as he ran a hand down Zane's back, he paused.

"What's wrong? I thought you said everything was manageable," Cole narrowed his eyes as Jay's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I'm bringing him back to the Bounty. Now," Jay said with an unusual glint of determination in his eyes, and Kai and Cole nodded. The Earth Ninja scooped up the Nindroid, and the Falcon perched on his shoulder, which did nothing to ease Cole's nerves. Despite what Zane insisted, that bird was _scary_.

Back on the ship, Jay had Zane sprawled out on his stomach, running his fingers over the curve of Zane's spine. Without an access panel, it was harder to pinpoint the exact places of damage, but Jay believed he had picked them out. Nya came in to double check, and soon both of their fingers were pressing down into the spots where what should have been a neat curve was a break or an unusually sharp ridge. The fight Zane had had with the Treehorn had broken parts of his spine, which was totally unfamiliar territory for the Lightning Ninja.

"Well, he obviously defeated the Treehorn after he was hurt, so he must still be functioning somewhat," Nya pursed her lips, her fingers pressing into the problem areas. It must've hurt, because Zane, although mostly out of it, let out a light groan which made Nya retract her touch. She rubbed Zane's head in apology as Jay sighed.

"I'm no chiropractor, but even I know this would've killed any of us," The Lightning Ninja shook his head, chestnut hair falling into his eyes. "If I screw this up, then..." Jay gulped, and Nya got the hint.

"Luckily, there's two of us," She gave Jay a small smile, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right. Nya, hand me that screwdriver, and let's get started."

* * *

Zane had been bedridden for a week now as he healed, as Jay and Nya didn't want him to jostle any parts around while a new shipment came in from Ninjago City. He curled on his side away from the door, bored and dying to go out and train or run or any other physical activity.

Footsteps alerted him to someone's presence, and he rolled over to check out the newcomer.

"Hello, Sensei," He sighed. His hopes of it being Jay or Nya to free him had been crushed. His mentor sat down at the foot of his bed, and the Ice Ninja felt the bed dip.

"No need to be so disappointed," Sensei teased, and Zane blushed, retreating farther under his covers.

"Apologies, Sensei. I suppose-"

"Anxious to get outside?" Wu guessed, and Zane nodded. "I thought so. I just wanted to tell you that as a team, we have collectively decided that you will no longer be allowed to travel to Birchwood forest by yourself for more than a few hours at a time, both for safety reasons and for fairness."

"But I..." Zane went to argue, but sighed in surrender, flopping an arm over his head. "I deserve this, don't I?"

"They seem to think so. Enjoy your rest," Sensei stood, and walked out, shutting the door behind him, drowning out most of Zane's last statement.

"Wait, can you-!"

 _Clunk._

Wu felt slightly bad leaving his usually well-behaved student in the dark, so later he returned with a book on chiropractic methods for Zane to read. Needless to say, the Ice Ninja did not find the joke very funny, and made it a point to drink the last of Sensei's favorite tea when he had the chance.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys! So this was a suggestion by purplefern, who wanted to see Zane turned human by some magic tea or something. There will most likely be a part two, so stay tuned for that when it gets published. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey, I wonder what this stuff does," Nya mused as she picked up a small container of tea leaves. She read the fine print on the label as Jay took out a container next to her.

"So?" He asked, peering over her shoulder.

"It turns non-living matter into life," She stated, and went to put it back, but an idea popped into her head. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Giant rock dinosaurs!" Jay gasped, stars practically dancing in his eyes, and Nya gave him a long look of confusion before she continued.

"Do you think this would work on Zane?"

Jay thought for a moment before shrugging. "It's worth a shot. How long does it last?"

"It says about a week." She tucked it under the waistband of her skirt, pulling her top over it so it blended into her outfit.

"Let's go make some tea," Jay smiled, and the two ran out, their original task forgotten about.

They found Zane in the kitchen, prepping that night's dinner, various vegetables lined up on a cutting board waiting to be chopped.

"Hey Frosty," Jay grinned, and Zane looked over, smiling a bit.

"Good evening Jay, and Nya as well," He turned back to his work, a pot of what looked like soup steaming in front of him.

"You look like you're getting tired. You want a drink?" Nya asked, trying not to let the slyness show in her words.

"I feel no strain, but I suppose a beverage would be appreciated," He nodded, and Jay smiled. They prepped the tea, all three of them working in silence, and they handed Zane the cup when it was done.

"Thank you," He said warmly before taking a sip. "Peculiar. What flavor is it?"

"Not entirely sure, but it looked good," Nya shrugged, and Zane took quite a few more gulps. The other two stared at him, waiting for a reaction.

"Why are you both looking at me? I feel fi-" He had time to say before he passed out, and Jay caught the cup before it smashed into the ground. Zane wasn't so lucky.

"Umm..." Nya pursed her lips. "Did not expect that."

"Let's... let's just get him to his bed," Jay bent down, and Nya nodded.

"I'll stay here and make sure the soup doesn't burn. You go on ahead."

Jay hoisted the Ice Ninja into a bridal-style hold, and carried him down to his bedroom, making sure to avoid the others on the way. He laid him down, and went to open up his chest panel to check for anything obviously wrong, but his fingers struggled to find the seam. He went for his wrist panel, but couldn't find that either. He rested a hand over where Zane's power source should be to test for a humming, but discovered a steady beat instead, as slow as an average person's when asleep.

"It worked," He whispered, and felt Zane's pulse on his neck, getting excited. The Ice Ninja's chest was rising and falling steadily, as opposed to the usual flatness of a Nindroid who didn't need to breathe.

Zane shifted a little, eyes beginning to flutter open. Jay sat back, as not to startle his friend when he awoke, and Zane sat up on his elbows, vision still blurry.

"Jay? What... what happened?" He sounded exhausted, ending his sentence with a yawn.

"So, um, Nya and I may have done a bit of a test," Jay crossed his legs as Zane sat up fully, eyes clear.

"A test? Of what sort?"

Jay didn't answer for a second, thrown off by how expressive his voice was compared to his normal droning.

"Well, we found this tea-" He started, and Zane groaned.

"Let me guess, that drink you offered had some sort of magical properties? What's wrong with me now?" Zane asked, running a hand through his hair.

Jay, afraid he would mess it up, just grabbed one of Zane's hands and pressed it against his heart. Zane looked confused for a second, but his eyes widened soon enough.

"I.. I have a heartbeat?" He looked at Jay, who nodded.

"Yeah, we turned you human. Cool, huh?" He laughed nervously, unsure of Zane's mood.

Just to make sure, Zane scratched at his wrist panel, only to not find anything cut into his skin. He looked around in wonder, the colors slightly more saturated than he was used to, before his gaze settled on his own skin. There were veins now stretching up and down his arms, more blush in his hands from the blood, and even his hair felt softer, which he determined by smoothing it with his fingers.

"Well? How're you feeling?" Jay asked, and Zane's eyes were bright.

"Fantastic."

* * *

Later that night, Zane was sitting cross-legged on the deck, gazing up at the stars. For the first time, he could really appreciate the chill of the night air, since his breath transformed into puffs of steam right before his eyes. An especially strong gust of wind threw him off balance for a second, and he laughed as he regained it, sitting upright again. His laughter died down as the Falcon swooped in, and he felt the sharp prick of his talons through his shirt.

He reached up to pet his friend, who chirped, but Zane realized that he couldn't understand it in the slightest. He looked at the Falcon with a tinge of sadness, but the bird clucked, nuzzled him, and flew off again, leaving him alone once more. He sat for a while more, before footsteps behind him alerted him to someone's presence. He tried to sense it, but found that there was no gut feeling to be found.

"Hey, Zane," Cole sat down next to him, and Zane made a mental note of the heaviness of the Earth Ninja's footsteps.

"Hello," He greeted, and looked over at his friend, who looked tired. How late was it again? He tried to access his internal clock, only to find that it didn't exist.

"Enjoying the view?" Cole asked as he turned his gaze to the sky, and Zane nodded.

"It is quite beautiful, yes."

"So, how's it feel? Jay was talking about how you reacted, and you seemed pretty happy."

"For lack of a better term, I feel more alive. Colors are brighter, food has more taste, and I experience more intense emotions," Zane explained. "On the downside, I no longer understand the Falcon, I feel things like hunger and thirst, and a lot of the smaller functions that made life easier have been erased."

"Wow, sounds like a lot to take in. You know it's only supposed to last a week, right?"

"It is?" Zane asked, slightly hurt. "I thought..."

"Jay didn't tell you how long it would keep you human, huh?" Cole asked, and Zane shook his head.

"Sometimes... it's all I ever really want. To be human, I mean. After this week is up, I don't know what I'll do," Zane sounded like he was on the verge of tears, which must've been a side effect of turning human, Cole reasoned. Zane wasn't usually so emotional.

"Zane, buddy, we love you as a Nindroid or a human, ok? We don't like you more because of your past, and we certainly don't like you any less. You're Zane, no matter what."

Zane just blinked, staring at Cole for a few seconds before he smiled, whispering a thank you and standing up.

"I really should get to bed," He yawned, stretching, the cracking in his bones startling him a bit.

"Yeah, same," Cole agreed. The two walked back into the Bounty together, Zane passing out as soon as his head hit the pillow, despite the fact that it was only nine, the moon shining through his window.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey y'all! Here's the second and final part to the human Zane duology, so I hope you guys liked it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Zane's eyes fluttered open the next day, the tiredness weighing down on his eyelids. He sat up and yawned, glancing at the clock. He read 8:00, but didn't quite register it and went to go back to sleep. After his brain processed the fact that he was getting up about an hour and half later than usual, he practically leapt out of his sheets. He quickly made his way down the hall, where the last two, Kai and Lloyd, were eating breakfast.

"You're up," Kai acknowledged, and Zane nodded, taking a seat.

"Why didn't you wake me?" The Ice Ninja took a bagel from the middle of the table, spreading cream cheese on one half.

"Trust me, we tried. You're a really heavy sleeper," Lloyd smiled, taking a gulp of his water. "The others are out doing some mediation exercises. We figured you're pretty much set in that department."

Zane took a bite out of his bagel, thinking for a moment. "I suppose so, although I have noticed that my attention span is significantly shorter."

"Huh. Do you think you can still meditate like you used to?" Kai asked, and Zane shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out."

Cut to an hour later, and Zane was going to sit in his favorite pond, or at least the best one around where they were. He rolled his shoulders, and waded into the water, finding it refreshingly chilling. He dove under as usual, and sank to the bottom, relaxing his muscles. He couldn't open his eyes like usual, but it still calmed him the same amount. He zoned out quickly, finding his mindset not in a pond, but in a tranquil forest, nothing distracting him from a walk through the trees. An indeterminate amount of time later, he was awakened by the sensation that his lungs seemed to be on fire. His eyes flying open, and subsequently stinging from the water, he shot to the surface, gasping when he broke through into the air.

He scrambled to the land, and flopped down on the grass. Zane, in between pants, realized that being human meant not having the ability to go without oxygen. Suddenly not in the mood to meditate anymore, he trudged back to the Bounty, where the rest of the team berated him for almost drowning in a pond that was only about six feet deep.

Two days later, Zane stayed up late reading, which would be fine since he usually didn't require much rest, except for that fact that humans typically require at least five or six hours, which he didn't even come close to. Luckily, training had been easy on him that day, so he didn't feel the burn of exhaustion until that afternoon, when they were on their videogame break.

He watched lazily, eyes glazing over, until he fell asleep on the couch with a sweatshirt half draped over him as a blanket. Jay turned around to ask Zane if he wanted a turn, but found the Ice Ninja taking a nap instead.

"Hey guys, look," He said softly, pausing the game.

"About time, he's been yawning the whole day," Cole smirked, but stood up to drape an actual blanket over the snoozing ninja.

"Let's just let him sleep," Lloyd said, standing as well. The team followed him out, Nya shutting off the lights as she left, letting the door click softly behind her as it closed. Zane didn't wake until a few hours later, disoriented but slightly more rested. His eyes still burned, his joints were aching from being cramped in an awkward position, and his stomach was telling him that it was time to eat.

He made the trek to the kitchen, munched on some peanut butter crackers, and began to sift through the cabinets to see what could be made for dinner that night. He was thinking either lemon chicken or chicken teriyaki when Sensei walked in, presumably to get his latest tea fix.

"Good afternoon, Sensei," Zane bowed his head slightly as he held a few containers in his arms, setting them down on the counter.

"I believe you mean good evening. You slept for quite a while," His teacher filled up a cup of tea next to him, and Zane shifted over to give him more space.

"I noticed. My apologies, I suppose I did not get enough sleep last night," The Ice Ninja decided on lemon chicken, and returned a few spices back to their respective places.

"I assumed so while you were training. You have been uncharacteristically lethargic today."

Zane felt a small blush form on his cheeks out of embarrassment.

"Sorry."

"No need to apologize. I am quite certain you will make up for your lost effort in whatever meal you seem to be planning for tonight."

"I will make sure of it," Zane promised, and Sensei bid farewell, holding his tea in one hand and his staff in the other.

* * *

The end of the week was up, and Zane's stomach was in knots the whole day. He wasn't sure exactly when he'd become mechanical again, and part of him was dreading it. How could he return to being a Nindroid after he had tasted human life?

It hurt Jay to see the soon-to-be-Nindroid so wound up, especially since this was all really his and Nya's fault. It had reached about two in the afternoon, and Zane had shown no signs of turning back. He was sitting on the deck, watching the clouds drift by, trying to memorize every detail of the bright blue sky. When he did turn back, he didn't realize until he woke up in his bed, Jay and Nya sitting by him. He sat up carefully.

Zane scratched at his wrist, and his fingers caught in the latch. He attempted to access his internal clock, and saw the time down to the second displayed in his vision. He sighed, looked up at the two, who smiled sadly and helped him up and out of bed, and went to observe the sky once more, only to find that it wasn't as bright as a few hours ago.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm sorry in advance. Enjoy.**

* * *

Jay sat in his room at his parents' place, knees tucked up to his chest. Recent events had really brought the reality of being a ninja to light, that it really was possible to die in their line of work. They may have evaded it the first time they had had a major fight, but the team couldn't walk away unscathed forever.

Zane had proved that.

Just thinking his name made Jay tear up, squeezing his legs closer. It had only been a few days, and the ninja had agreed to each have their own proper time to grieve, and that they would reconcile later once everyone's thoughts had cleared up. So far, not much progress had been made on Jay's end. He had nearly broken down when his parents tried to give him ice water, so they had only given him bottles instead since then, not entirely sure how much Jay could take.

Even tinkering with some parts to take his mind off of things didn't work, because everything reminded him too much of the half face plate that was sitting back at the academy, untouched since they had discovered it. So he sat in his room, thought, and cried, hoping to vent his emotions one way or another.

He glanced up at his desk, and saw the notebook his parents had gifted him a few hours ago, claiming that writing his thoughts down might help him vent. With shaky hands, he picked the book up along with a pencil, and opened to the first page, writing his first few words.

 _Zane is dead._

Even just writing that made Jay's throat close up with sorrow, tears gathering in his eyes.

 _Cole hates me._

Maybe that wasn't entirely true, but if Cole didn't hate him, then he certainly liked him less than he did before the start of the whole ordeal.

 _Nya loves Cole._

That he knew was true. Right after they had witnessed Zane's sacrifice, Nya had clung onto Cole as she cried, which only intensified the grief Jay felt. He knew it was stupid to worry about a crush when your best friend had just died, but Jay blamed it on the shock and kept writing.

 _I miss Zane._

 _I want Zane back._

Scratch that.

 _I need Zane back._

Jay had to close the book and put down the pencil to wipe away stray tears, the discarded tissue only adding to the ever-growing pile.

* * *

Kai punched the wall. His sleep schedule had been so messed up, because every time he closed his eyes, he heard the sound of explosions and saw Ninjago City covered in ice, shrapnel acting like sprinkles on the cold, hard icing. He had just woken up from a nightmare where he saw the Ice Ninja fall apart before his eyes, until he was left with the one piece of the Nindroid they could recover.

He punched the wall again. Somehow, the pain distracted from the images and moments repeated in his mind. Nya had given up on trying to get her brother to stop, because all that resulted in was yelling and fighting, and the last thing they needed was to be angry at each other too. Kai was already mad at Jay and Cole for starting the whole fight over Nya, he didn't need more reason to punch and hit inanimate objects until he felt better.

Violence wasn't going to bring Zane back. Nothing was.

Nya expressed her grief through her sketching. She drew up fantastical ideas of ways the battle against the Overlord could have ended before Zane felt the need to sacrifice himself. She drew up new bodies, new functions, new Zanes, new everything. A part of her hoped that creating a new body that at least looked like the old one would somehow restore his memories and personality too, although she knew that was irrational.

The Falcon hadn't appeared since the funeral, and Nya remembered how Zane had talked to the bird as if he were human. She wondered if the Falcon could grieve too, if it knew what had happened to the Ice Ninja and was paying his respects for his fallen brother. She squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to block out the tears from gathering. If only she could talk to the others. Maybe they would be more rational than Kai.

However, Jay hadn't picked up his phone, Cole never replied to her, and Lloyd was with his family back at the Academy. Pixal hadn't even tried to stay in contact, so Nya didn't bother either.

Nya just wished it would all be over soon.

* * *

Sensei sipped his tea, sitting in the middle of the room by himself. Lloyd, Garmadon, and Misako were off together, so he was all alone, left to his thoughts. He hadn't cried for the Ice Ninja. A part of him knew Zane wouldn't want him to, that the Ice Ninja would do everything in his power to keep his family happy.

Wu supposed he accomplished that goal, to an extent. Most of them had made it out unharmed from the fight, but only because Zane threw himself into harm's way to ensure that. Physically, the team was fine. Emotionally, not so much.

Wu looked around the room he was in. It was the Ice Ninja's classroom, and it was so very undeniably _Zane_.

As the school's science teacher, Zane had been happy to plaster periodic tables and diagrams all over his classroom, and even had a small collection of robot figurines his students had given him. It had started out as a joke, with one young boy bringing the Ice Ninja a plastic arcade prize as a joke, but Zane had loved it and his students started competing to bring him the best one.

There was a layer of dust settling on the tops of the heads.

Usually, this room would be loud, whether it was the kids doing an experiment was Zane cheering them on or was Jay popping in to help teach during his prep period if he was bored. Sometimes, as Sensei knew from observation, Zane would sit down during his prep period, shut down his computer, and just think. He used his hour break to mull over things students had said, or what he had to do after school hours, or even just to clear his mind.

Sensei stood, and sat down in Zane's seat, which the Ice Ninja had insisted be a spinny chair. He tried to think like the Nindroid, tried to imagine what Zane did when he mediated. The more he thought about Zane, the sadder he became.

Soon, he was crying, although he didn't realize it at first. Tears gathered in his eyes as he faced Zane's empty classroom, knowing that the team would never have the heart to dismantle it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello! This is continuation of the last chapter, which is why Jay and Kai have almost no background in this part. This was inspired thanks to a review by AlessiaSkyler, who mentioned that I never wrote about Cole, so of course I felt obligated to finish what I started. Enjoy!**

* * *

Cole laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. He had been laying there for hours, gaze focused on nothing. Lou had popped in every now and again, but after only getting indifferent responses and shoulder shrugs from his son, he had given up, leaving Cole alone while he went to practice with the rest of the Royal Blacksmiths. His father had left the TV on, hoping that Cole might respond emotionally to something he happened upon, but so far Cole hadn't changed the channel.

It was on Ninjago City News. Reporters listed civilian casualties of the fight and damage done, as well as the actions taken so far to repair said damaged. The ice coating part of the city still wasn't completely thawed yet, and temperatures were still dangerously low surrounding the fight scene. There had been a light dusting of snow continuously falling since the battle's end, but Cole couldn't bear to look outside and see it.

Memories of laughing and playing out in the snow with the Ice Ninja surfaced anytime Cole thought about the snow outside, so he didn't think. If he tuned out the world, the TV, and even his own thoughts, then nothing could hurt him. His phone had been buzzing continuously since he had left, so he had powered it down and shut it in a drawer in the kitchen. Nobody, not even Nya, was worth talking to right now. Jay probably hated him, judging by the looks he had thrown Cole's way after Nya had hugged him, Kai hadn't tried to contact him at all so far, Lloyd was too pushy and positive, and Nya...

He didn't have the mental strength to think about that.

His dad walked in, disheartened by his son still laying in the same position he had been in for days, and gently placed a newspaper on Cole's chest.

"Try reading it, Cole. Maybe you'll find something that peaks your interest," He offered gently, and Cole shrugged, picking it up. It was worth a shot. Lou left, saying he was going to brew the Earth Ninja a cup of coffee, and Cole began reading. After a minute, his mind clung onto an advertisement.

 _Lumberjack position. Help wanted. Lodging and food provided. Starting pay $20,000 per year._

Cole tore the ad out, and sat up. Maybe some time in the woods was all he needed to clear his mind.

* * *

Kai thumped his head against the wall, fingers finding the seams and threatening to tear them apart. No matter how hard he tried, the scenes of the Ice Ninja moments before his death hadn't left his head, and he was getting sick of seeing Zane's face. _Zane. Is. Dead._ His mind kept repeating, trying to clear itself of the guilt. He may have been collected when giving his speech at his friend's funeral, but his throat had been closing up the whole time.

Who knew that one damn person could tear him apart this badly?

Kai, at Nya's insistence, bought a punching bag later that day. They had given him a free magazine with it, and he was flipping through the pages as he cooled down after attempting to beat it to a pulp. An ad for a fight club took up a small corner of the page, and Kai shrugged, already reaching for his phone to call the number. How bad could one night of fighting be?

* * *

Lloyd sat across from his father, trying to meditate as best he could. Garmadon had insisted that Lloyd should calm himself instead of further annoying his grieving teammates, but the Green Ninja was having a hard time. He had to open his eyes, not able to clear his mind enough to fully relax. Garmadon's eyes were still closed, lost deep in thought. Lloyd looked down at his own robes, borrowed from his dad since his clothes were dirty. The ornate silk felt too formal for how Lloyd felt. He was the leader, and his team was grieving, hopeless, or dead. He cringed at the last word, feeling tears well up in his eyes. No, he couldn't cry, not here, not-

"Lloyd, are you alright?" Misako said. She was passing by with a basket full of something, most likely Lloyd's dirty clothes. At the sound of her voice, Garmadon opened his eyes.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Lloyd smiled the best he could, but his parents weren't convinced.

"Lloyd, are you sure? You've barely said a word to us since you've gotten here," Misako sat down in between her husband and son, creating a triangle.

"I know, it's just a lot," Lloyd sighed, fidgeting with his fingers in his lap.

"I know. Everyone cared for Zane. I didn't know him for a long time, but you and the others had known him for a few years," Garmadon took a deep breath. "but he's not coming back. There's only so much we could have done, son. It's not your fault."

"But I could have... I..." Lloyd didn't know what to say, but his parents understood, and both brought him into a hug, and Lloyd let his first tears fall in his parent's arms.

* * *

Jay clicked through Youtube absentmindedly, watching video after video, his brain barely processing anything he saw. His recommended was still full of tinkering videos, but he ignored all of them in favor of the vine compilations and fail videos. Dumb, mindless humor. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to even crack a smile, but nothing appealed to him. He finally saw a video that interested him after hours of clicking.

 _How I Became a Comedian!_

It was an hour long, but Jay didn't mind as the man rambled on about how comedy helped him through rough patches in his life and how he felt like he was helping people though his work. Within the day, Jay was emailing back and forth with one of Ninjago's major production companies, who was thrilled to have a ninja interested in his line of work. The Lighting Ninja set up a date and time to meet with his potential employer, and went to bed that night feeling a little bit more full of life than when he had woken up.


	20. Chapter 20

"C'mon, Zane, please?" Jay pleaded, waving the ticket in front of the Ice Ninja's nose. "Nya can't go, and you're the only other person who understands me!"

"I don't know. I currently have plans to do some extensive reading on Saturday, and this would greatly limit-"

"Look, if you're worried about the project you've been working on, it's literally a robotics convention. I'm sure you'll find plenty of information there on what you need for the Falcon."

Zane rubbed his fingertips together as he thought, and Jay slowly crept the paper towards his face until Zane waved him away, sighing.

"Yes, Jay, I will attend with you. I assume I don't need to bring anything special? I do not have much time for preparations, considering the event is in two days."

"Just bring yourself, some cash, and whatever gaming devices you want," Jay winked, and scurried out of the room, and Zane shook his head slightly before going back to his readings, determined to make up for Saturday's lack of productivity.

Early Saturday morning, the two sat in the line, people surrounding them as they played cards on the floor. Jay had lost the Uno tournament multiple times already, but that didn't deter him for a second as Zane put down his last card. A few people around them had begun to whisper, their suspicions confirmed when Zane offered to cool down Jay's water a little more, watching ice crystals form under his fingertips.

As Jay shuffled the deck and Zane inspected his lanyard, a girl and her presumed boyfriend caught the duo's attention.

"Excuse me, but are you two ninja?" The girl asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yup, not here on duty though. Just two dudes enjoying a convention," Jay shrugged, praying silently that the two left them alone. No such luck.

"Could we take a picture with you?" The man held up his phone camera, and after the couple had had their fix, the line finally started to move, and the day began.

"Alright Frosty, there's a panel at ten thirty that I want to see, so we can just look around until then. Anything in particular you want to check out?" Jay peered at his map as Zane guided him with a gentle hand on his arm, steering him away from large cardboard cutouts of inventors. Large signs on wires hung from the ceiling, each with a different brand name, but one name in particular sparked his interest.

"Aperture Science?"

"Wait, Aperture's here? Oh, we have to see them. Come on!"

"Um, who are they?" Zane asked as Jay began to pull him along, and the Lightning Ninja faltered.

"Only the most advanced AI producers ever!" Jay fawned, and Zane faltered, the statement sinking in.

"Um, Jay?"

"They make AIs for military work, menial tasks like cooking, and even potential office assistants, and all sorts of awesome stuff like that!"

"Jay, I don't know if this is... my type of environment."

"Zane, you're the smartest person I know, how could AIs not be-" Jay paused, then rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh. Sorry, I guess I forgot."

"You can go. I will stay back and converse in the literary section. I will be fine."

"I brought you along as company, not to abandon you in an expo hall. I'm sticking with you. If that means I don't meet anyone from Aperture, then I'll have to survive without it." Jay smiled thinly, and led a slightly self-conscious Zane to a company called Andromeda, which specialized in pneumatics. Zane could live with that. As the presenters talked about air pressure, the Ice Ninja nerded out just as much as the Lightning Ninja, both eagerly asking questions about the mechanics before Jay pulled them away for the panel.

"Alright, what we're seeing is on the evolution of zombies in video games. Not really robotics, but it sounds awesome."

Zane nodded, tucking his hands into his pockets. His lanyard had grown, different pins scattered around the fabric. Although he didn't care much for the souvenirs, he noticed Jay was forgetting to grab the pins, so he planned on presenting the Lightning Ninja with them later.

They walked into the hall, a projection of a zombie from a popular fighting game up on the screen. The two sat down in chairs relatively in the center, and Jay talked with the person beside him about the newest installment of the aforementioned game, discussing the various weapons and their capabilities. Zane didn't contribute, as he didn't know much about the gameplay or what it was even about.

At last, the panelists took their seats. A woman was leading the event, her microphone taped with green tape that was not unlike the color of the zombie's flesh behind her. She talked about physical appearances, causes of infection, behavioral patterns, and the few people behind her input their thoughts occasionally. When she got to philosophical zombies, however, Zane's interest peaked.

"P-zombies are a special class of their own. They're called philosophical zombies because there is no way to determine their consciousness. Do they emote? And if they do, are those emotions real? They look like humans, they act like humans, but do they have the consciousness of one? To tie this back to the convention as a whole, the recent jump in the development of artificial intelligence-"

Zane froze. The world went blurry for a second, and as soon as he blinked a few times, it came back into focus.

"-there is no real test. Sure, p-zombies and AIs can claim consciousness, but there is no way of knowing for sure. With this, I enter our final point-"

Zane stopped listening. He stared straight ahead at the panelist, seeing her lips move but not hearing anything. The more Zane thought, the more it made sense. Humans have consciousness. That was a given fact. But robots...?

"-there are different types of p-zombies. Some, like the behavioral zombie, if poked with a stick, might respond like it was in pain, but it is only because it is "programmed" to do that, so to speak, so-"

Zane knew she didn't mean any harm, but still... He glanced at Jay, who was whispering excitedly to the man next to him, writing down phone numbers for further discussion as the speaker ended the panel. Zane didn't realize it was over until Jay tugged on his sleeve.

"Earth to Zane, people are leaving. Let's go get lunch."

Zane nodded, following the Lightning Ninja out, almost in a trance. Zane reserved a table for them while Jay ordered food, mindlessly fidgeting with the playing cards he had brought, so much so that he didn't noticed Jay sit down across from him.

"Zane?"

The Ice Ninja jumped, dropping the card he was holding. "Yes?"

"Are you ok? You've been acting weird ever since the panel," Jay scrutinized his friends expression, and realization hit him. "It's about that whole consciousness thing, huh?"

Zane mumbled a confirmation, taking his small french fry from the tray, taking a bite. Too salty.

"Zane, you know she wasn't referring to you. All this talk of artificial intelligence is directed towards staffing robots, nothing even close to your level."

The Ice Ninja looked up, seeing the sadness in Jay's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm ruining this day. Really, just let me go home and you can explore all that you want to."

"Don't dodge the subject. I want you to say that you're conscious and that your emotions are real. C'mon," Jay sat back and folded his arms, determined.

"I'm conscious," Zane murmured, eating another french fry. Jay waited. "... And my emotions are real."

"There. Now, you're sticking with me, and I'm going to find you the best damn book nerd in this whole expo hall, and you're going to geek out as I much as I've been, and you're going to have a great time," Jay rambled, taking a bite of his burger. Zane smiled slightly, listening to the conversations of people around him as well as his own. Everyone was so happy that it was hard to wallow for long, and Jay slowly saw the smile become genuine on his friend's face.

Jay did stay true to his promise, and found the author of a book he had read on the use of robotics in flight, and the author was mostly happy to know that the Ninja of Ice was a fan of his work, and the two would've talked for hours if Jay hadn't pulled Zane away for a different panel, the Nindroid's heart filled with nothing but pure, undiluted happiness.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey y'all! This oneshot features my personal headcanon that Zane is totally pan, you know, due to him being a robot and all. If you don't agree, whatever, it only comes into play the second half. Enjoy!**

* * *

Jay wasn't sure if it was too personal of a question. However, there was no better time to ask it than when he and Zane were washing dishes alone on a lazy Tuesday night, the Nindroid humming a little tune to himself.

"Hey Zane?" Jay risked, and the Ice Ninja stopped humming, turning towards Jay in an invitation to continue. "Do you feel... love?"

"I beg your pardon?" Zane asked, slightly taken aback by the question.

"I asked if you feel love. Y'know, like the emotion," Jay stammered, sure he was making the situation even worse.

"I believe I love all of you, so yes," Zane nodded, and Jay blinked, processing the answer.

"No, like romantic love. Not platonic."

Zane went quiet at this point, pondering Jay's question. Did he love anyone like that? He knew that the other ninja had crushes, even gossiping like middle schoolers sometimes. Jay and Nya were even dating, for goodness sake. He tried to think back to times he may have possibly experienced attraction. Was there anything? Jay took this silence as a bad thing, and raced to defend himself.

"Not that you have to answer or anything, I was just curious, you know? Like, I thought since love in humans was pretty much just a hormonal thing, that it might be different for you. Not that other emotions aren't or anything, but-"

"Jay, your question is fine, I promised you," Zane interrupted his rambling with a gentle assurance, setting down the dish he had just finished washing on the counter. "I suppose I need to think a bit more time to fully formulate an answer for you. If you ask me again tomorrow, I might have a better answer for you."

"Okay, okay, that I can handle," Jay laughed nervously, and Zane smiled as he left, retiring to his room to think. Once he was laying on his bed, the Falcon nesting on his perch next to the window, he began to think back, his mind wandering as it brought up different memories from his years wandering around Ninjago.

 _Fifteen Years Ago, Thirteen Years Before Joining The Ninja_

"...Father?"

"Yes, Zane?"

"What is love?"

Dr. Julien stared curiously at his son, a slow smile spreading across his face. Zane was sitting on his workbench, feet swinging gently as he stared at his father, head cocked in intrigue. The inventor walked over and sat next to his son, the then-android moving over to make room for his father.

"Love is something you feel when you care for someone very much. For instance, Zane, I love you," The doctor watched as Zane ran this statement through his head.

"I have said that I love you many times, Father, even though I did not know what it meant," Zane paused and the inventor worried his son was going to stop there. "However, you have just told me the meaning of love, and I can agree with you. I love you as well, Father."

The robot grinned, and Julien pulled his son close, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Never change, Zane. Never change."

 _Fourteen Years Ago, Twelve Years Before Joining The Ninja_

Zane put the book he was reading in his lap, frowning.

"Father?" He called down the hallway, and Julien poked his head out from his workshop, oil smeared in his face.

"Yes, Zane, what is it?"

"This book is confusing, it uses terminology that I cannot find in my database," Zane said with an edge of annoyance to his voice, which was an emotion usually only reserved for when he came across information that was hard for him to comprehend, like this situation.

"Does it now?" The Doctor searched his brain as he walked over for any books he owned that might be confusing to his son, unprepared to see Zane holding a romance novel that he had picked up on the clearance rack during one of his trips into the town. He hadn't read it himself, so he walked over to read the part that was confusing his son.

"It is almost incomprehensible in the way it speaks of human relationships. Everything you have taught me has been completely contradicted by this book. Either you have taught me incorrect information, or this book is inaccurate," Zane said bitterly. After a minute or so of reading, the Doctor put the book down on the shelf.

"Zane, I should have read this book through before allowing you to read it. You have not yet reached a level where you can understand it," The inventor sighed, even though he was smiling with a light blush across his face.

"That does not answer my question. The woman is acting like she is in pain. The verbs the author uses to describe her actions certainly display agony, and the male appears to be behaving rather aggressively," Zane recalled, crossing his arms. The Doctor chuckled, ruffling the robot's hair affectionately.

"Zane, my boy, trust me when I say that this is a lesson for another day."

 _One Year Ago, One Year After Joining The Ninja_

Zane sat at a table by himself at a café in Ninjago City, reading through the menu with interest. A few bags sat at his feet, left over from his shopping trip earlier. He had been sent out to buy a new cable for their gaming console and a few new light bulbs and other basic domestic items. Zane was usually the go to ninja for shopping because he valued his time alone the most, making any excuse to spend a few hours with himself a good one.

His waiter appeared beside him, taking the ninja's drink order with a wink before walking back inside the café. The Ice Ninja shrugged, and mulled over his menu items before the waiter came back, setting down his drink with a napkin. Zane gave the man his food order, and he disappeared once again.

Zane looked down at his iced tea only to find writing on the napkin. It was a phone number, followed by the phrase "call me" with a heart signed after it. Zane stared at the information for a second, intrigued. Did his waiter think of him as a possible romantic partner? They hadn't even held a conversation, so he couldn't possibly be serious, right?

Before he realized, enough time had passed where the man returned with his food, along with an extra order of scones.

"Excuse me, sir, I didn't order this," Zane went to hand the pastries back, but the man declined, tucking his hands behind his back. Zane noticed his name was Ray.

"It's on the house. Enjoy," Ray smiled nervously, even stammering a little as he left to resume his work. Zane blinked, staring at the extra food and the number for a long moment.

Zane ate his sandwich, asking for a box for the scones when his server came around again.

"My pleasure," The waiter nodded and brought him a cardboard container with a little heart sharpied on the inside cover. Zane couldn't help but think it was the slightest bit cute.

After he tipped generously and gathered his things, he left with a small wave to his waiter, who waved back shyly. On the way home, he took the napkin out of his pocket, and programmed the number into his phone. Maybe one day.

 _Present Day_

Zane approached Jay in the kitchen after breakfast the next morning, an answer already in mind.

"Yes."

"What?" Jay asked, before remembering last night's conversation. "Oh, cool."

"Not right now, no. I do not currently experience any attraction. But I know that I do, and maybe one day I will."

"That's nice. You'll find someone, Frosty. There's plenty of girls out there who would kill to spend even a minute with you," Jay winked, and Zane shrugged.

"Maybe. There is no saying that it will be a fangirl though," Zane teased before walking out, hearing Jay's confusion behind him.

"Wait, did you mean any girl or that you're into-"

Zane shut his bedroom door behind him, already tugging off his shirt to get changed. After he had put on his clothes for the day, he scrolled through his phone for a second, eyes settling on one contact in particular.

 _Ray (Waiter from Café)_

Zane clicked off his phone, slipping it into his pocket. Who knows what the future would bring.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey y'all! This is an old request from Serpentine King, who wanted to see Zane talk with the others about mothers. I wouldn't say this chapter embodies that prompt, but it is definitely inspired by it. Also, two Doctor Julien features in a row, who knew that was possible? Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

When Zane was only a few years old, he stumbled across a book that made questions spring up like weeds in his mind, making him pause his reading to ponder. Julien, who was preparing dinner only a few yards away, noticed this change in his son's behavior and put down his bag of walnuts.

"Zane, what's wrong?"

The android looked troubled, legs tucked under him in his plush chair.

"Do I have a 'mother'?"

Julien bit his lip before answering.

"No, you don't."

"Why?"

"Well, Zane, I chose to spend my time out here creating you than spending my life around the rest of civilization. As a result, you do not have a mother," The Doctor wished Zane would drop the subject, but his son persisted.

"I call you father, but _is_ a mother? How are the two phrases different?" He inquired, and Julien sighed.

"I am your father because I am male. If I were female, I would be your mother," He stated simply, and this seemed to be satisfactory to the android.

"I see. Thank you."

* * *

A few weeks later, it was brought up again.

"Will I have a mother?" Zane dropped the question as he tended to the fire, sitting criss-cross in front of the flames with a metal pole to shift the logs within.

"Most likely not," Julien mentally cursed. He loved his son's curiosity, really he did, and he didn't want to dampen it by shooting down his questions. However, if Zane brought up his lack of a wife one more time he felt like he was going to burst.

"Why?"

There it was, that infamous question. Much like every toddler, his son went through a phase where everything had to have a reason, but due to his son's strange juxtaposition of knowledge and ignorance of the world surrounding him, he seemed to be lingering in it longer than the average human.

" _Because_ , Zane," The words coming out harsher than intended. "I don't have the interest nor the time to spend my time on trying to find love. You are not going to have a mother, because I will not marry. Is that clear?"

The android blinked as he processed, turning his gaze to the floor.

"Yes, father."

Julien knew his words had hurt, but if he opened his mouth again, there was the chance of doing more damage, so he bit his tongue and watched his son poke at the fire in a melancholy manner.

"My apologies, father, I upset you. I did not intend to," Zane said with his chin resting on his knees, white long sleeve shirt bunching up under his skin. Julien felt a strong pang of guilt, walking over and sitting next to the android.

"You did nothing wrong, my son. You are merely curious, and there is nothing wrong with that. I shouldn't have gotten so angry."

"To prevent more misunderstandings, what did I say that upset you?" Zane turned his gaze up towards his father, and the Doctor's heart melted.

"Perhaps we should avoid the topic of mothers in the future, my son," Julien wrapped an arm around Zane's shoulders, and he nodded.

"Understood."

The two had very little conflicts over motherhood again, although agreeing not to mention it did nothing to sate Zane's curiosity.

* * *

"Jay, why do you have flowers? Is there a special occasion I should know about?" Zane asked as the Lightning Ninja walked by with a small bouquet.

"Mother's Day. I'm bringing these over to my parents' place," Jay held up a small card as well before slipping it into the middle of the flowers.

"Mother's Day?" Zane inquired, curiosity getting the best of him as he trailed behind his blue-clad companion.

"Yeah, you know, when you celebrate your mom, and-" Jay faltered, looking up at the Ice Ninja's face. "Yeah, I guess I forget I'm really the only one with a mom on this team, huh? Sorry man."

"No, I asked you, no offense taken. I suppose my father did not like to discuss motherhood, is all. I am just unused to the topic," Zane reassured his friend, who couldn't shake the feeling that he had done something wrong.

"You know what, do you want to come down with me? I'm sure my mom would be delighted. She considers you all her kids anyway," Jay smiled, but Zane bit his lip.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be intruding?" The Ice Ninja wrung his hands, but Jay rolled his eyes and grabbed Zane by the arm.

"Zane, you are the least likely out of all of us to be an annoyance, just come with me."

* * *

Zane sat next to Jay in his plane as the Lightning Ninja leisurely piloted, steering with his knee as he watched Zane nervously drum his fingers on his knees.

"Zane, what are you so nervous about?" Jay finally asked, exasperated. Zane startled, pulling his hands back into his lap.

"This is a much more relaxed setting than I am used to with your parents. I am afraid I never had much interaction with parental figures."

"My parents are people too. They may be loud, but they're all I've got," Jay chuckled, resting a hand in place of his knee to steer. "And you had your dad, what do you mean no interaction?"

"My father's relationship with me was abnormal. I remember everything, from the moment I was activated to now. When I was first turned on, I wasn't treated like a normal child. As human as I can appear, I still had to be tested for errors, so I was observed and treated more like an invention than a child for the first year or so," Zane leaned back in his seat, and Jay stayed surprisingly quiet, interested in the Ice Ninja's early years. "After a while, I began to feel more human, and he treated me more human. I love my father dearly Jay, but..."

Zane trailed off, hand resting in front of his mouth. "Sometimes I do still feel like an experiment more than a son."

Jay didn't know what to say. He sat still, trying to think of some way to comfort the Ice Ninja, but what did he know about feeling like just a machine?

"It's okay, you don't need to respond. I'm sorry I brought it up," Zane waved away the awkward silence, and leaned his head back in his seat. "I didn't mean to reach that level of emotion."

"You don't need to apologize, it's alright, really," Jay rambled. "But just so you know, if anyone tries to tell you you're just an invention, you have a whole team of family behind you ready to kick their ass."

"Thank you, Jay," Zane smiled, and shut his eyes, letting the faint hum of the engine lull him into a sense of security. After a few minutes, Jay checked his radar.

"Alright, we should be nearing the junkyard in about five minutes, so... Zane?" Jay turned, and saw the Ice Ninja asleep, lips pulled into a peaceful smile, having fallen into slumber with the thought of his own family at the front of his mind.


End file.
